The Gift of Blood
by Rogue Sprite
Summary: A priestess finds that a certain poem holds more for her and the land she lived in when she encounters him: The Lord of Assassins. She ventures to find an end to a curse and finally understands that their lives aren't entirely theirs. Reposted so R&R.
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

**The Gift of Blood **

Beyond the mountain pass doth glow  
The bleeding sun beneath the snow  
That riles the fiery impassioned flow  
Of a river crimson letting go

A blade reflected in ones eyes  
The solemn truth masks all the lies  
Twice tried to darken all the skies  
But thrice, it comes with paradise

The novice, at the end of the marking ceremony for priesthood, begins to commemorate the 3rd and 4th stanzas of the prophecy to her memory as is tradition.

_With love impure by timeless sin  
A crystal heart forms within  
The iron foe, the devil's kin  
Is turned by touch of innocent skin_

_Iron firmament might hold the foe  
Beneath the bleeding sunshine glow  
But the day is set to end all woe  
With forbidden love letting go_

Not very many would understand the last two stanzas, which is why it was kept from the general public-- the part about the "iron foe" being "the devil's kin" or that "innocent skin" should be subjected to the devil himself would have caused too much worry among the pleasantly ignorant citizens of Carnelia. Carnelians have been too peaceful, have forgotten the wars, have grown luxurious in their lifestyles. They remember neither pain nor hurt. Only want and satisfaction existed in their seemingly purposeless lives. It was a beautiful place spoiled only by the rottenness of the people's hearts.

Many do not even recognize what this poem truly represented. Some think of it as an oath. Most of the lower priestesses think it is merely a song to sing in prayer during vespers. The higher priestesses think that it holds a truth in it, but they do not realize the taste of fate embedded into it. Perhaps its holds the fall of Carnelia, but none seem to realize that.

The novice or, shall we say, the newly inducted priestess stood up after she recited the last two stanzas. She was the last to achieve the mark of the gift. Set apart from her families and half-blood siblings by the circumstances of her birth, she was immediately given to the open arms of the Sanctuary. She was rare in the land, her features and complexion was a common controversy among the people. Her pallid skin immediately sets her apart for spiritual purpose (for fair beauty is required to become a loyal servant of the gods and goddesses), but her dark abyssal hair was often marked too plainly among the many golden and white heads in the priestess line. Her hair wasn't merely dark black, but it seemingly absorbed the very light around her. Black hair such as hers, as is said in old midwife tales during those days, was the mark of a fallen angel. Clearly she was a contrast of both good and evil.

It didn't help that the circumstances of her birth was odd. She was not born within the range of Carnelian land nor in that of any other country. She was born at sea, in the middle of the invisible lines that marked the jagged territory of countries. No land could claim her but she was in Carnelia by her own choice. Citizenship went only by land of birth, not by parents.

Her mother was well known as the "new" Queen of Carnelia during the time, but her father could not have been the King. Either the young priestess was born of virginal causes or the Queen had committed treason. Her father's true identity however is never the main punch-line of any story or joke. The Queen, with one look at what she bore, quickly asked for the release of her life. No one knew what the Queen saw, only that she seemed to hide in her eyes both relief and regret—a most confusing combination—at the sight of her daughter.

Kaoru Kamiya was disowned.

No one was ever kind to her except for her _sisters_. The women of the Sanctuary saw in her a distinct purpose. How the likes of her ever came into favor by the High Priestess was still unknown because there was no apparent reason as to why the High Priestess would grant this one child a home within the convent and not in the local orphanage. Many theorize that Kaoru bewitched the High Priestess, that she is the deceitful devil in a woman's body. However, all talk is silenced at the sight of her._ A beautiful devil indeed._

Her priestess' mark was not received with welcome by the people, but it was expected. She had the gift: The Gift of Blood. Only time will tell how she would use it. This bloodgift is very peculiar for it can only be used once. It is said that every individual with the bloodgift is fated to a certain death—or a certain _life._ The bloodgift controls the person and not the other way around. It harms her, it protects her, it keeps her alive—even when she wishes to die. Symptoms include high endurance, high agility, and, to the people around her, strange features as well. She was what one would call unbecoming and unwanted in front of her face in order to conform with general opinion. Yet many dreamt of her in the secret of the night, only to wake up panting in awe and terror since the subconscious of their brain had long believed that she was not quite human. She couldn't possibly be one of them--not with how she subtly became the most skilled swordswoman in the country _and_ cursed the late Carnelian dynasty. She was untouchable.

Today Kaoru was allowed out of the city walls. After being inducted as priestess, she was given the duty to watch the walls for the whole night, and if fate were kind to her and agreed to her marking as priestess, then she would come back alive in the morning.

It wasn't a surprise that she didn't.


	2. The First Encounter

**Chapter 1: The First Encounter**

He had been on a reconnaissance mission around the city. He was supposed to make a detailed report on the walls, the state of the gates, the number of watch-guards. In other words,_ he_ was going to besiege the city as the last lord of his clan.

"_I will take back, what is rightfully mine." _

Before there ever was a Carnelia, there was the war clan called the Mitsurugi tribe. They battled on the fields of the land of the bleeding sun long before the commoners from the east arrived and colonized their nation. Their strongest rival, the Ryu tribe, were agile assassins, who prided themselves for taking lives away at night. The Mitsurugi were skilled swordsmen who found ways to counter the assassins. The assassins adapted and found other ways to kill. By the time the first colonist came, their styles have evolved greatly due to the adaptation that each made in order to win. Their style of warfare was sophisticated and effective. However, because war was the main concern, their population became small--and thus unable to hold back the colonists. Hence, Carnelia was created with the force of numbers alone.

Defeated and exiled, both the Mitsurugi and the Ryu clan made an oath to each other. The number of their people was dwindling, so intermarriage became the uniting bond between the old rivals. Their styles were combined and perfected in the many generations that Carnelia used to fatten itself. The clans had grown into a great population, never forgetting the oath. Kenshin Himura was its ultimatum.

He was a loner that much was certain. He did his own dirty work. He could kill when needed. Lead when needed. He was the best scout they had, so he was the one making the rounds, feeling the terrain. His very birth made it clear that he was made for battle.

But he never meant to kill a young priestess. He in fact was trying to avoid her.

_Fool!_

She followed him, her keen ears sensing the rapid breaths that heaved high above her head led her to look up. She saw the mark of the Mitsurugi-Ryu oath on his cheek. A cross. All those who bore it were lords of killers untamed and he was the only one left. She tried to scream, but the sword was too fast. The flash of blade barely reached her eyes when it went through her stomach, causing a fatal wound.

Kenshin chuckled softly. He enjoyed playing hide and seek but never liked losing. "Tell me priestess, if I were to kill you right now, something bad should happen to me, right? I interfered with fate, interfered with _your life_ that was set apart for the spirits. What wonderful nation would create such a foolish religion? Tell me, priestess, do you believe?" He mocked her dying form as she grabbed his shoulders to steady herself. Slowly Kenshin pulled her down to the ground. He leaned down to look in her eyes of clear blue, clear of hate, clear of regret, clear of any emotion but…

"Are you _pitying_ ME?" He spat at her face. Her eyes told him yes, causing his eyes to flare gold. He grabbed her head brusquely and pulled her up. "Let me give you a reason why you should pity yourself instead!" thus he violated her mouth.

Kaoru choked at his tongue, her vows as a priestess that morning, she knew, became absolutely void of meaning by his violation of her body. Her tears flowed freely as he took pleasure from her pain. She tasted his impure tongue, lashing in the depths of her flesh. Her bleeding worsened, she was seconds away from death. Nevertheless, it did not matter to the assassin. Kenshin disengaged his mouth from hers and started to hitch up her robes, but did not get far.

Her eyes… _Her eyes glowing with blue flames_. The last of her tears dropped as the glow completed its turn in her eyes. She stopped breathing and her eyes shut close.

Kenshin looked around in confusion as the earth started to quake. Above him, the sky was literally falling. Heavy masses of earth came shooting to the ground. The dirt beneath his feet parted, leaving him to scramble around for stable ground. He risked a look at the priestess. What he saw would keep him from sleep for the next 10 years of his life.

Her eyes were open, but the fiery blue was more explosive than before. As if she had blue suns burning in her eyes, she lifted her hands to dampen the pain and yet she couldn't. She looked to the sky, allowing the light from her eyes to cast a blue sheer over the land. Kenshin watched in terror as he saw the priestess levitating up from the ground. Her bloodstained robes dissolved into ashes, and in her naked form, he saw the fatal wound he caused close up and heal itself. Rumbling lightning emitted across the quickly darkening sky as meteors fell as if to claim his life. He had to scramble and run around to keep his footing, all the while keeping an eye on the priestess. She was so high up that the light in her eyes cast a bluish glow all around the horizon, her mouth screaming inhuman pain.

At last the blue light was extinguished and the earth came to silence once again. The ground was stable and the sky clear. Kenshin looked up and saw that something was still falling.

_No._ He slowly ran towards the falling object, picking up speed as he saw what it was. _The priestess_. He used the city walls as leverage, jumping on it to catch her in midair. When he landed, he brushed away all her hair from her face. A face that he _wished_ would invade his dreams if he ever could sleep in the next ten years. The face of innocence. Silently breathing in her sleep, the naked priestess lay silky and soft in his arms, not a drop of blood could be found on her flawless skin. _Beautiful._ With a graceful movement, he shrugged off his cloak and put it around her.

Not knowing exactly what he had done, or what he was doing, he carried the girl back to camp.


	3. The Battle of Light

**Chapter Two: The Battle of Light**

Kaoru would not wake. Sometimes Kenshin would have to look carefully for any sign of breathing for at least five minutes. Yet alive she was, if barely. It had been three days since the day the sky made tremors. He had to sneak into his camp, which he did quite easily, for fear of being questioned about the nude maiden in his arms. He had to think. He needed answers. And the only one who had them was sleeping still on his bed, looking positively dead if not for the minute heaving of her chest.

But after three days without food or water for the priestess, Kenshin couldn't keep it to himself. He brought in a trusted servant to take care of Kaoru but it wasn't going well.

"I swear on the head of my father, I cannot touch her, my lord. Anytime I try…" Tsubame started to cry and she held her arm dearly. Burn marks showed clearly on her hands. "It feels as if a surging fire would go through me."

"Bare it." Kenshin listened with his eyes closed. He hadn't had a decent night of sleep since...

"But my lord, I can't." Tsubame slumped to her knees and started crying. Kenshin eyed her with a weary glance. Walking towards the maiden in his bed and delicately placed a hand on her forehead feeling her temperature. A surge of blue electricity went through his skin, the crackling light enveloped him for a second and then stopped. He looked pointedly at the crying maid, who glanced wearily at the priestess and curiously at her lord. Not once did he take his hand off. Still, Tsubame felt unsure. Whenever she tried it, the crackling light never stopped.

"See? Now you try." Kenshin tiredly pulled Tsubame's fingers and laid it on Kaoru's hand. Tsubame didn't argue, she knew she was right. Kenshin's eyes widened when a full minute passed by without any sign of the electricity disappearing from the skin contact. He had to pull Tsubame out. "_Why the_—"

"Please my lord, perhaps you're the only one allowed to touch her." Weakened, Tsubame struggled to keep her voice even and without spite; she stood up with all the dignity she could muster. "My lord, please…" she begged. Kenshin massaged his temples.

"Very well, bring me something easy to eat." Tsubame left the room in a hurry and came back with a tray of egg soup, milk, and a banana. Kenshin dismissed the girl, and she bowed low in gratefulness.

Kenshin stared at Kaoru, the tray in hand. He walked over to her and closed his eyes as he laid a finger to touch her skin. It crackled once before silence ensued. It got easier and easier to touch her, as if _it_ knew it was he. He propped up her head with a pillow and tried to wake her up, but to no avail. He parted her mouth with his fingers and started to spoon-feed her. With the patience of an older brother, he wiped away her dribbles and kept on trying to spoon-feed her until she started to swallow. She finished the soup. He wrapped another layer of clothing around her neck and tilted the small glass of milk to her lips. She swallowed slowly, letting a good half of the milk drip down to her neck. Not once did she gain consciousness. Only the small gulping noises hinted at her being an actual living person.

When finished with the milk, Kenshin opened her robe a little bit to wipe her neck and shoulder blades of the milk. He decided against closing it and instead took off whatever he had put on her nude form. He pulled her blanket above her breasts, and distracted himself with carefully peeling the banana. With two fingers, he broke off a small piece, mashed it, and tried to make her eat it.

She choked at his fingers and unconsciously spat the banana out.

"_Orrro…_" he said angrily, his patience wearing thin. He did it again and got the same response. "Listen, _priestess_, you need to eat something solid or you'll starve." He did it again and she spat it into his eye. She moaned a little and turned her head, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her eyelids. Kenshin smirked. _She __**will**__ eat._ He bit off the banana and chewed it carefully. Gently, he tipped Kaoru's mouth towards his and slowly kissed her. With his tongue, he firmly but tenderly pushed the banana into her mouth. She was about to reject it, but he parried her tongue with his. He pressed on her tongue and edged the banana down her throat. She swallowed and made a slight noise. He ignored her and did it again. He parted her lips with his, slipped in his tongue, pressed the banana on her tongue, and pushed at it repeatedly to flatten it some more. Several times, Kenshin had to pause to clear his head. Everytime he did, he took longer and his knuckles went whiter as he tried to supress whatever it was he was feeling.

During the past three days, many had noticed (and even remarked) that the amber in his eyes had been appearing more often, though none knew the cause of it.

Kenshin felt weird when he noticed that they had finished the fruit. He looked hard at the banana peel in his hands, crushed and sticky and completely done.

"She might need a bath, my lord…" Tsubame whispered, coming in. She thought it wise to stay hidden until they finished. Kenshin nodded. With the blankets still covering much of her body, he lifted Kaoru's slight form and walked towards the bathhouse.

The camp was more of like a temporary headquarters. Kenshin had a whole compound to himself, including a bed room, meeting room, a dining room, as well as a bath house for his use. He had the privacy required to keep Kaoru secret. Gently he laid her down in the steamy water, scented with jasmine. _Probably Tsubame's doing,_ he thought to himself as he scrubbed her body with forced indifference.

* * *

"So this is what's keeping you inside your room," a tall Aoshi looked down at the creature in Kenshin's bed and clothes. "You've clothed her as yours?"

After five days of continuous sleep, she woke up. At that very hour Kenshin had a meeting assembled, impatience driving his blood to madness. He wanted answers and he _will_ have them.

"Lord Himura has chosen a woman? Will wonders never cease?"

Kenshin growled at the impetuous comment, but the elders merely laughed at him as they took their seats facing Kenshin and Kaoru in his bed. Kenshin snapped at them, telling them to be quiet.

The elders, unknowing what to do then, turned to Kaoru. Her forehead was wrinkled, her eyes shining a little too blue and too bright.

"What is your name, my dear?" a particularly fatherly figure came up to her when she didn't answer the first time. Kenshin stared at her. _Maybe I should have made sure she was literate before I started this meeting._ He scowled.

Kaoru was very interested in her hands, or seemed to be. At any hint of noise, she would then turn her face towards it like a scared rabbit. She started to pant.

"Maiden, answer him," Kaoru turned towards the source of the words… but saw nothing. Emptiness.

"I…I can't see."

* * *

Kaoru was blind. The council waited for a whole hour before she could compose herself and talk. Kenshin waited outside, looking at the rain angrily. _Blind? The blue light in her eyes rendered her blind?_

Kaoru faced the elders as she introduced herself and started the painful process of recalling that last thing she can remember. She started with the morning of her marking as a priestess inching towards the incident of that afternoon…

"He tried to kill me—" her words choked her as she heard a man snort. Then suddenly an eruption of laughter took hold of the room.

"She claims what? Dear, you must be confused, if he tried to kill you, you would be dead." The fatherly voice was of no help as she clutched at the sheets tightly. Her eyes eerily roved the room, as if it pained her to keep them focused at one place. She had not known that the very person she was talking about was in the room.

"She was." It was the first time Kenshin spoke since. He then told the rest of the story. Her eyes, her healing, the sky, and how he brought her in. By the time he was finished, the room had gone deathly quiet.

"Well that's it," said one elder too nervously. "We cannot keep her here, she's obviously a liability. She should be executed." Murmurs of agreement derived from fear filled the room. Kaoru brought the sheets tighter around her body, her mouth set in a grim stubborn line and her eyes opened wider than possible.

"Let us move the meeting outside, elders." Himura marched and opened the shoji door.

However, a very young elder started to move towards her. Kaoru sensing his presence, edged away from the approaching man. "Don't—" Kenshin warned, but it was too late. The man grabbed Kaoru's shoulder and was shocked by her electric aura. No one could get near enough except Kenshin to help him, and when he did, he purposefully took a long time in separating the man from her. The man lay unconscious on the ground.

"Were any of you listening? Did you not hear that I did _execute _her? She has great power. We shouldn't see her as an omen but a blessing. She'll help us." Kenshin shouted frustratingly at the dimwitted men.

"What? After you tried to kill me?" Kaoru faced the impetulant lord, and despite her lack of sight, threw the most murderous glare she could.

"Listen, priestess, let's get past that okay? I did save you. And clothed you. Fed you. Bathed you. I was your servant for the past week. You are going to help me take back my lands."

"Bathed me?" She was screaming back, her embarrassment flushing her skin.

"Believe me it wasn't a pleasant experience. After three days, you were disgusting." A bowl flew past Kenshin's face, had she been able to see he wouldn't have been able to say another word. The elders watched on, amused that the priestess knew many colorful words despite her chosen occupation. Kenshin matched his vocabulary with hers and would have gone on for hours had not one of the elders interrupt their little verbal joust.

"I think we should let our Lord Battousai decide. Please inform us of your decision and your plan afterwards at tomorrow's meeting." The fatherly elder stood up and started to usher the others out, laughing inwardly at the scene. It reminded him too much of a lover's quarrel to take it seriously.

When all of the men were out, Kenshin took hold of her wrists and brought her up to his face. He hissed at her, "You will help me take my land back." Kaoru tried to break free but when she couldn't she lashed out at him, biting his cheek hard. Kenshin howled and pushed her back on the bed. Kaoru panicked, not noticing the surge of energy that started to rise in her heeding the call of danger.

Kenshin grabbed her neck, trying to keep her down but a shockwave started to go through him repeatedly, shocking his body and the organs inside. He tried to hold on but her power didn't stop. Her eyes glowed blue again as she lost control of her power. Kenshin couldn't let go as the electricity passed through his heart a million times, stopping and starting it again. He shut his eyes closed as he felt his essence _let go_.

In the nothingness of her mind, Kaoru was assailed with a dark glow. She couldn't see but she could _see the light in the emptiness of her mind_. Kenshin squeezed her neck and growled. Kaoru's power started to fade, the blue light diminishing into light crackles as another form of light started to emerge.

Kaoru screamed and lost consciousness in the ominous glow that enveloped her. In her mind, she saw staring back at her, two orbs of amber. Two bleeding suns.


	4. Bonding

**Chapter Three: Bonding**

Kenshin struggled through the thoughts that assailed him through the night after his sudden exhaust of power with the priestess. He lay limp, the upper half of his body hoisted on the bed with his legs hanging down its side. Unconscious and sweating, he fought through a fever that was not entirely his own.

Images, thoughts, memories flashed through his dreams. Oddly enough, none of them were his.

_Alone in the rain, rats scattering around, the cold wind whipping upon the skin. _

Kenshin shivered and tossed himself to a side. His mind then shifted to another dream.

_Stones being thrown, cannot stop. Must run, run! A stone hits the knee and caused the stumble. Children leaned over and spat._

Without waking, Kenshin swat his hands at whatever was supposedly leaning over him. But his mind shifted again.

_A man following. Panic rises, urging to run. Hair pulled back by the man and then lost of consciousness. _

Kenshin growled and rolled off the bed completely, but the images didn't stop there.

_Leaning over the pond, ripples flowing away from the teardrops. The pond would not still, a face blurred in the reflection before being pushed into the water and almost drowned._

Kenshin's breath stopped—until a final image blurred into his mind.

_The walls, high and intimidating. Sensing the presence, must protect the walls. Looked up. _

Kenshin gasped at what he saw.

_A crimson vision, eyes winked in amber. PAIN. Numb._

Kenshin tried to breathe but found it too painful. His breath caught in his throat.

_A whisper saying "breathe, and open your eyes." _

Kenshin obeyed and felt heat rising to his face. He sat up groaning with his hands over his eyes as he finally gained consciousness. He could see the amber flowing out amidst the light that filled his vision. It had barely taken a moment before it disappeared.

Kenshin sat still for a long while. He was at the foot of his bed, on the floor, half up and half sprawled all over. The lights were dimmed on, like he had left them. No one had dared come in. He almost forgot what had happened until he felt something move near him. He looked up at the bed.

Kaoru's eyes moved rapidly beneath her lids, she breathed heavily suffocating from something. Kenshin could see the veins popping out of her neck, yet nothing was strangling her. Then her demeanor suddenly changed. Calm swept over her and tears started to rush down. Still unconscious, she lifted a hand to her right cheek and traced a cross, fingering it lovingly, almost proudly_... like he would. _Her eyes opened, meeting his intense gaze. Realization passed over their faces.

They had just seen each other's lives.

Kenshin moved to touch her but she jerked away instead.

"Are you alright?" he whispered. The images of her life were still fresh in his mind and was causing a pain that he could not ignore. Her depression was tangible in her thoughts, cold and alone.

"Where are you?" Her voice, firmer than his, reached out in the dim light. Her arms waved around, trying to feel out where he was. Her eyes were shimmering, almost tearful, yet void of awareness. Her hands finally dawned upon his sweaty arm and she grasped him tenderly and pulled him towards her. She wrapped her arms around his sweaty and shivering form and laid his head upon her bare shoulder. She stroke his hair and started to cry on his.

"I lost my parents too," she whispered breakingly into his ear.

Kenshin yielded. He shifted and looped his arms beneath hers, taking her light form in his arms. He was too numb to feel the hot tears that fell from his eyes, wetting Kaoru's neck. He sobbed for the first time since he first entered the world.

* * *

Kenshin's body was sprawled all over her nude legs, his head comfortably cradled in the curve of her stomach. His arms were still encircled around her body. Kaoru sighed. She had an idea what time it was, but her lack of sight prevented her from seeing the creeping sunlight on the bedroom floor. Kenshin moaned and jerked again. Kaoru placed her hands on his forehead and he calmed almost suddenly. She shook her head in pity at the man who lay helpless upon her. 

She was used to this. She didn't know the extent of her powers would reach into the depths of death itself, but she knew that human consciousness was her expertise. However, this was the first time she had ever traded memories with someone.

She knew hers were bad, she could even recall the memory that Kenshin mumbled about in his sleep. But Kenshin's memories were terrible and she couldn't bare to see them again in her dreams. Images of blood, gore, and the feeling of relish of the kill turned her stomach. She was glad she hasn't had anything to eat since yesterday. She began to stroke Kenshin's hair as he suddenly firmed his embrace. He muttered out in his dreams with a pained voice.

Kaoru needed her eyes to close for a moment—her last conscious thought was: I'm going to regret this.

_Looking around the barren ground, reddened with the life of millions of men. The urge to find more and add to the darkened hue. It rose up from the bottom of the gut, giving a delicious sensation as the wind whipped the stench of blood against the face. Pulling out the sword, calloused fingers ran against the blade, wiping the blood off with the index finger. Bringing it close to the face, smelling it and letting it touch the tongue—_

Kaoru jerked herself awake, her tears of horror dropped down on Kenshin's face, waking him up. He shook himself from her and sat up. Her expressive eyes showed everything, its sheen somehow reflected to him what she had just relived from his memories. He suddenly had the urge to vomit.

* * *

"So you're the queen's daughter?" Kenshin asked in a solemn voice as they walked through the compound gardens.

"Yes. But the King is not my father."

"He's dead as well?"

"Yes. Everybody said I brought a plague on the whole family. I managed to end one of the longest dynasties in Carnelia."

"Truly?"

"No. I don't think I brought the plague, yet everyone is convinced otherwise."

"But you're still alive. How can you not inherit? You're still royal blood."

Kaoru smiled at the question. It was a simple question—one that should have a simple answer. Yet it didn't. Though they had only known each other for a month in what could be called as a hostage-kidnapper relationship, he had started asking about her past with almost no concern for how she might feel about them. His questions were quick and relentless, Kaoru struggled to keep a poker face through them all.

"My blood is stained. That is enough of an excuse," she said calmly yet. Kenshin saw the repressed tears and silently scolded himself for his ignorance. He knew better since that night. The image of Kaoru, persecuted for her features, her circumstances, her unbelongingness. He never knew such things. He knew who he was and was confident in his place.

"Hmm." Kenshin replied after thinking long. He watched her walk. She walked with a cane, her head held high and her face alert. "Well that's all I wanted to ask. Your turn."

"My turn what?" she slowly turned her head, trying to see where he was. Kenshin smiled warmly at her effort.

"Your turn to ask," he said softly. A lump formed in his throat at the fact that he didn't want to answer Kaoru's questions of his past, but fair is fair. Shame slowly leaked through Kenshin's mind. "I know you must be concerned with me," Kenshin tried to explain, his voice drowned in guilt. "It's what was expected of me…" he finished weakly, trying to rationalize what Kaoru saw in his mind.

"Ask about your past?"

"Yes."

"No, thank you."

"Why not?" Kenshin was taken aback at her reply. Moments passed. He couldn't see anything in her usually expressive face. The effort of hiding her feelings affected her body, however, and she slightly shivered. She turned towards his general direction, giving him a warm smile.

"I don't want you to hurt." She chuckled slightly and just walked away.

Were she able to see, she would have seen Kenshin's face. In pain. In shame. And in awe.

* * *

"So you've decided to postpone the Carnelian siege?"

"Yes."

"But Lord Himura, you said yourself that we could take them, their army is weak."

"There are other ways to take the city."

"You mean through the girl?"

"Not in the way you think, Genzai." Kenshin looked outside at Kaoru who was walking around the courtyard. Suddenly a messenger stumbled into the room, his eyes wild and untamed. It was a runner from the southern borders.

"Master Himura, the Yukishiro tribe arrived a sennight ago at the border. His army is five-thousand strong with cavalry and infantry on the way from the west."

Silence enveloped the room as these dark tidings started to manifest themselves clearly in the elders' minds.

"It looks like you made the right decision again, Lord Himura." A young elder looked at the young king of the Mitsurugi-Ryu tribe. "Its time to bring out the Hitokiri Battousai, don't you think?"

At the mention of his forbidden name, Kenshin sharply turned his gaze towards the stupid speaker, shocking him with the full force of his amber eyes.

"Don't call me that" he hissed poisonously as he left the room, leaving the elders wondering at what had just happened.

* * *

He went to his bedroom, calming himself down before he slid open the shoji to enter.

"I haven't talked to you for a week, where have you been?" Kaoru nonchalantly asked as she sensed Kenshin's presence walking into the room. Kenshin stared hard at her, _was he getting rusty at sneeking around?_ "Don't be so surprised. Being blind has its perks, you know" Kenshin's eyes wondered in amazement, _she can tell my mood as well?_ "Stop gaping at me."

"Hai." He acknowledged as he walked towards her, their dinner waiting.

"I heard about the rumors, when are you leaving?" _Will wonders never cease?_

"Why do you care?"

Kaoru bit her lip as confusion darkened her face.

"Anybody would care. People die from these things."

"Not me."

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about the people who die _because _of you," Kaoru answered back, her face torn in confusion. She could never gauge his moods. She was so used to the companionable conversations they have been having, and yet now all of that seem to have never happened.

In front of her, she heard the shuffle of his movement of trying to get up. "Wait!" she lunged for where his arm would have been and caught it. She pulled herself up with his help and traced her fingers to his face. She firmly dragged her index finger on Kenshin's cross scar.

"You never wanted this," she whispered…_pity lacing her voice._

"Let. Go."

He left her standing in the middle of the room. It was only in stubbornness that she was able to stand, without emotion, for a long while after he had left.

* * *

They were to wait for the Yukishiro to make their move. They still weren't sure if Enishi, the lord of that tribe, intended to fight with them or the Carnelians.

In the meantime, Kenshin paced in the courtyard, thinking of worst-scenario tactics. It was then that he heard a piercing scream outside.

Kenshin arrived in time to see a man slump down, crackling with blue electricity. Kaoru was on her knees, weak from all the spent energy, as two other men circled her. With the dull end of his blade, Kenshin knocked them unconscious and grabbed Kaoru's waist. He pulled her into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

"Never leave this compound," his voice terrifying, blood-thirsty.

"I…I didn't know I was outside," and Kaoru fainted.

When Kaoru came to, Kenshin was beside her.

"Before you go walking around, ask if either Tsubame or I will be coming with you. Do you understand?" He didn't pause for an answer. "Only the elders and Tsubame know about you. It's for your protection, if any one finds you here they'll take advantage of you." His eyes narrowed at her. _There's not a lot of women in camp, my men are starved of companionship…_ But he didn't say this, he didn't want to worry her.

"Your elders, do you trust them?"

"With my life."

"Oh."

* * *

After weeks of waiting, Kenshin still heard no movement from the Yukishiro. Even the elders were antsy and couldn't help talking about the weather, boring the lord of the clan to bits. It was more than what Kenshin could bare thus he made up his mind about something he had been chewing over since Kaoru was attacked. He found her outside, drawing something idly on the dirt. With her kimono bunched up under her, she was an image of beauty and innocence.

"Kaoru, you need to learn how to defend yourself." Kaoru turned towards his voice, tilting her head, bringing a small smile to his lips.

"I'm alright, Kenshin." She retorted stubbornly. She was a little ticked at his pronouncement. Number one: She can take care of herself. Number two: Why does he care now? Did he forget he tried to kill her once? Number three: If no one knew about her, except for the super trustworthy elders, why would she need to learn self-defense?

Kenshin, apparently, could sense her thoughts, or the general idea behind them. The bond between their minds were growing stronger every second they spent together. Stubborn ice met with insistent amber. Kaoru could tell his gaze was liquid fire as he walked up to her and sat down in front of her face.

"I need you to do this for me," he whispered. Kaoru was taken aback at the intimacy of his voice. She racked at her brain, trying to figure out where this pattern of behavior came from. She thought that whenever she could feel the amber emanating from him, it would be from rage or anger. This behavior was completely new.

Kaoru nodded and followed Kenshin to where he usually practiced. Kenshin handed her a small bokken as he took his own sheathed sword as his weapon.

They had been sparring for a while now. Kenshin nodded in approval of her stance and stamina. He didn't believe that Kaoru already knew some self-defense, but when she had unexpectedly landed the first strike, Kenshin stopped going easy on her. She had after all competently beat the High Priestess herself, but he doesn't need to know that.

"Why couldn't you have used your walking cane on those guys the other day?" He asked incredulously. He can't believe he was sweating from fighting a girl—a blind girl.

"Magic is so much easier." Kaoru was sweating and staggering as well. _Being bullied so many times, I shouldn't have been surprise that she fights so well, _he thought to himself as a particular memory of hers crossed his mind. Kenshin watched her closely. She could anticipate his moves so well that she knew what he was going to do next even when _he _didn't. Kenshin's eyes were suddenly distracted however, by her hands. They tickled with blue light. Kenshin widened his scope of view and realized that he could see the blue aura that surrounded her. "Are you going to just gape at me all day or what?" Kaoru interrupted.

"Are you sure you're not using your powers?"

"Yeah. I don't think so at least. It doesn't work that way anyways." Kaoru let down her bokken. She could hear Kenshin's confusion.

"How does it work, exactly?"

"Well for starters, I don't control my powers, it controls me."

"Oh." Kenshin didn't move. Kaoru was sweating and panting, eerily lit up with the energy of her body and her soul, her face flushed, her hair tussled. Kaoru's aura appealed to all his senses. He could hear her soft panting, he could see the blush of red, he could smell her sweat, and he could feel her strength. He was deeply intoxicated with Kaoru's vivacity and suddenly realized that he feared what he felt. "That's enough for now."

Kaoru's eyes gleamed in relief then confusion when she realized she was alone again. Kenshin had already walked away without saying a word.


	5. Breaking

**Chapter Four: Breaking**

Kaoru's stay at the Ryu-Mitsurugi camp became a routine. In the morning, she would wake to the sound of a sword sweeping through the damp air. Her other senses had become keener as time passed by, her body getting accustomed to her lack of sight. It bothered her extremely, but she had no choice. She felt the world around her had turned into a world of sharp corners, deceitful pebbles, and unforgiving edges. Her body hosted a number of slight bruises from the number of times she blundered into a painful obstacle. After a month, however, she learned to count her steps to the bathhouse, the dining room, and back to the bedroom.

Waking up, she would plod over to the bathhouse, ignoring Kenshin's pause to look at her in his morning exercises. Her walking stick waved in front of her, feeling the familiar terrain of the courtyard. Ignoring him was a chore she would much rather do without, but his gaze was always on her, so she had no choice.

A week ago, she had tripped, so Kenshin rushed to her side. She snapped at him while haughtily trying to get up on her own, her eyes blazing with blind fury. 'I don't need help. I'll never learn if you keep coddling me!' She turned her back on him and marched away. Kenshin silently consented to her wish. Confused, he didn't know why he felt both tense and at ease around Kaoru. Perhaps it was the consciousness of knowing so much about each other's past that gave him the false feeling of intimacy between them. He knew he could be himself, both as the aimless wanderer and brutal warrior, under her gaze, but he couldn't explain why he felt so tense. The want to protect, hindered by the desire to remain aloof, distracted him from his morning meditations nearly everyday (because Kaoru goes to the bathroom everyday.)

He wouldn't have recognized it for what it was, for he never experienced it himself. He was a leader who was either feared or respected. His past prevented his people from ever loving him. Alone and unattached, his life had one purpose: to take back his land.

For the rest of the day, she would do what she pleased. Just recently, she got into the habit of tending the garden. The feel of cool soil on her skin was utterly different from the hard pointed edges that often tripped her in the house. She'd found a shed with garden tools and started working immediately from morn until noon. It kept her distracted from the more depressing thoughts such as "I'm blind," "I'm no longer a priestess," and "I'm a hostage." The last thought upset her most of all, not because of the hopelessness that should have been inseparable with being a hostage, but because of the sheer uncertainty of the statement. Kenshin had never once declared her as his hostage.

She found the seeds that Kenshin left under her favorite tree that afternoon (out of fondness perhaps?). A can of seeds on the small plot of ground under the trees. Kenshin watched as she let the seeds sift through her fingers. It calmed him, especially after that tiring meeting. An hour ago, Kenshin had received word of Yukishiro's movements again. It was agreed that they go to war in a week. He stood up straight from where he was leaning and led Kaoru back to the bedroom to eat.

Kenshin watched her movements without restraint. Her blindness was a comfort to him, it was only in her presence that he felt free of criticizing eyes. A pang of realization hit him hard; selfishness had never bothered him before now. It troubled him that he liked Kaoru blind.

"I leave in a week," he said impulsively since the blunt fact had been gnawing at him all afternoon. Kaoru stopped drinking her tea, but remained unmoving otherwise. She willed her eyes to regain their sight so she would know how to react. She didn't know all of his moods—only his unpredictability. She decided to act as if she didn't hear anything.

"Thank you for the seeds. I didn't know that you would notice my playing in the dirt."

"I hired a maid for you. I will be busy this next week, so she'll start tomorrow. She'll continue with your lessons."

"What kind of seeds are they? They must be jasmine. I don't know how to plant them so maybe _Tsubame _can help me." 'Isn't one maid enough for this man?' she thought.

"You're not allowed to leave the compound when I'm gone. Ever."

_Silence._

"I'm not your hostage," she whispered. It was a question begging for an answer, yet Kenshin merely stood up and left.

Even outside the door, he could hear her soft sobbing. Every night she would ask the question. She had asked it a little too early tonight, robbing him of his dinner. He smiled bitterly. They had come to a silent understanding that she would ask after he had eaten. Of course, she wouldn't exactly ask, she would _declare_ that she wasn't his hostage. But every night, all he could do was leave her, he didn't have the heart to tell her she was wrong, losing his appetite.

Kaoru, in her bed, thought differently. As a woman, she interpreted his actions in a different light. It wasn't necessarily a wrong interpretation—it's just not something a man would understand. By leaving her alone, it only showed that she was his hostage. She had been given the privilege of being his guest during the day. Free to eat, to drink, and to do as she pleased within the compound are seldom the circumstances given to an actual hostage. At the end of the day, she would ask --or strongly assert-- that she had, in fact, been alleviated of this position. Kenshin leaving her, however, broke the illusion that she had created to keep herself from pain. **He** was her captor; she shouldn't be allowed to be in **his** company, so **he** left.

When she finally fell asleep, he came in quietly to wipe the salty trails on her cheeks.

* * *

The next morning was very interesting for Kaoru. The new maid arrived before she woke up. Misao was, in a word, odd. She didn't act like a maid. Boisterous in her step and loud in her ways, she was more like the type who could go to war. Immediately she challenged Kaoru to spar.

"Kenshin told me you're supposed to be good." Misao said lightly. The fact that Kenshin would even take the time to say that had initially astounded Misao. She now doubted his words. 'This chick isn't good at all.' Her mind twisted around the thought that perhaps the king was infatuated with the girl instead. She looked at Kaoru on the ground and raised an eyebrow. 'She's pretty, but there's no way she could have used feminine wiles to lure him. She's too…abrupt.' She had heard the rumors of a woman in his bed. Nobody told her she was blind though.

Kaoru used her cane to stand up. Sparring in the early morning was not something she was used to. Misao had landed a heavy blow to her thigh and it was already too late when she felt the wind from it.

"How is she doing?" Kenshin looked across the yard, returning from a particularly irksome meeting with the elders.

"She's blind. What can you expect?" Misao's boredom apparent in her voice. Kaoru stiffened at her words. She charged at Misao, yet Misao easly blocked her ill-aimed surge and hit her on the other thigh, sending her to the ground again. Kenshin itched to pick her up and comfort her. He winced at the thought. _Me... help her? What?_

"Are you alright?" Kenshin walked over to her, unsure of what to do. He wanted to comfort her, he wanted to help her up and feel her in his arms. He wanted---

"I'm fine!"

"Kenshin told me not to hold back on my hits."

"I know!" She finally obtained balance and stood up. She went over to the other side of the court, counting her steps and lifted her cane into a fighting stance. She won't give up—not when she wanted to hurt some_one_. She felt a change in the air across her. Her hands tickled at the tension.

"Go away Kenshin, I want Misao."

"I've had an irritating meeting. I need a release. You don't mind if I spar with you, do you?" But Kenshin didn't wait for a reply. With ungodly speed, he crossed the court and attacked her with his sheathed sword. Misao gasped when Kaoru matched his speed in her block. Kaoru jumped back for room and returned the strike. Kenshin parried. She blocked and lunged. They danced.

Misao's eyes widened as the fight went on. All of Kenshin's moves were anticipated by Kaoru. _All._ She seemed to know his next ten moves, bringing her walking cane to block Kenshin's hits. Kenshin was obviously _not_ holding back. Their patience was wearing thin.

Kenshin was slowly being backed into the wall. In a desperate attempt to get ahead, he ran towards the wall, up on it, and flipped over, hoping to land behind Kaoru. Nevertheless, his feet had barely touched the ground when Kaoru jabbed at his ribs. He flew backwards as the surge of light emitted from her bokken.

She didn't know that her gift was fully awake, and that she delivered a hit that would have killed any normal man. Moments passed and Kenshin still hadn't said anything. She knew she had hit him and had heard the distant crash of a body, so where was he? She started to look for him when she heard a faint cough.

The wind chilled Kenshin's sweating back. He coughed into his hand again, spitting crimson. Slowly, Kaoru found his bearings and wrinkled her nose at the stench of blood.

"I…" she held out a hand to find him, desperate to find him alright. Sparks of blue light emanated from her fingers, crackling to the ground.

"NO!" Misao lunged, sensing the power beneath her skin.

"Misao, don't—" but Kenshin was too late.

Misao grabbed the outstretched hand, receiving a shockwave, crashing through her body. Misao screamed but could not let go. Kenshin growled and picked himself up, holding his ribs. Clumsily he pushed Misao away from Kaoru, losing his balance and landing on the priestess. They fell to the ground as a mixture of soft amber and angry blue erupted and disappeared entirely. Kenshin coughed. Blood splattered onto Kaoru's face, her blank eyes widening in realization.

* * *

It was with heavy difficulty that Misao managed to get Kenshin to the room. Kaoru silently asked Tsubame to fetch the doctor and then kept herself in silence for the rest of the afternoon.

The doctor had adviced him to postpone the attack, but both of them knew that would be folly. Kenshin got up from the bed.

"Don't get up, please" Kaoru pushed him back down slowly, careful to touch him on the shoulders only. Her voice cracked at her attempt to say something apologetic. His ribs, the doctor said, were broken.

"Where will you sleep?" Kenshin asked tiredly, not sure what he wanted for an answer. Kaoru gave him an amused smile but immediately withdrew it when she felt his head turn towards her.

"Since I came here, you've let me sleep on your bed. I say we switch places." Kenshin shook his head lightly, his eyelids heavy due to the drugs. Kenshin fell into a dreamless sleep as Kaoru continued to stroke his hair in deep thought. She could hear the flicker of candle light, his soft breathing. She could feel the bed move as his chest heaved. Yet with all of this she felt alone.

* * *

Misao was outside waiting for her. Kaoru told her everything.

"Well it seems that after that day you "bonded" gifts, you've been more adept with reading his actions then." Misao mused at this idea. Trading memories and all that. "How come it doesn't work the other way for Kenshin? Why can he not read you?"

"His gift is different."

"He does have a gift then? You didn't have to give him one?"

"He has a powerful control over the living. Fear, respect, the legends, his skill, it's all a means of his gift. That's why he's successful as a warrior."

"I don't see how being able to take one's life makes him gifted. Anyone can kill."

"Yes, but not like him. I've seen him move, in his memories. I saw his lusts. The only control us humans have in our lives is over our deaths—and even in that, it's not much control.

"And yours? What's your gift?"

"I don't know."

Misao stared at the blind girl, her night-blue eyes gazing somewhere far away. "How did you beat him this afternoon?"

"I can feel him."

"What about me?"

Kaoru smiled at the girl sweetly. "I couldn't feel you, but that's probably because we haven't traded our most traumatic moments yet while you strangle my neck." Misao tilted her head and Kaoru laughed at her brooding silence. Misao joined in; Kaoru's laugh was contagious.

He could hear her through the walls.

* * *

The week ended. Kenshin's bandages were reduced, but he still ached. Misao and Kaoru looked at Kenshin in front of the compound. Kaoru wouldn't let go of his hand.

"Kaoru." Kenshin's voice was firm, befitting a king.

"Don't speak to me like that." Kaoru held his hands firmly in hers, she had dropped her cane in order to hold him back. Kenshin's face softened, his shoulders weighed down on him. He felt as if he couldn't move away. Misao walked away to watch from a distance.

"Kaoru" he almost whispered, cupping her hands in his instead.

"Don't go. You'll regret it, I know you will. You do everyday. Even when we met, you regretted it" she whispered as she alluded to when he first killed her.

Kenshin tried to keep his temper in check. _She shouldn't assume what I think, gift or no gift._ "Let go Kaoru," he said as softly as before but more strained. He was surprised when Kaoru dropped his hand and just walked away, counting her steps softly in a sobbing voice.

"Victory be yours." Misao whispered as she waved goodbye to him. He walked towards his army in the fields.


	6. Bending

OLD A/N: This rant is to alwyzme: She cares for him, she might even like him. She doesn't love him. She looks at him with pity because that's who she is. In the second to the last scene in Chapter 4, she feels his presence because he has grown closer to her in the past few weeks than anyone she had known in her whole life. That's why she feels alone despite the fact that Kenshin was there. Also, the fact that she says Kenshin will regret going to war is very different from Kaoru saying she wants him to stay. No, that's not the major reason, she knows something he doesn't.

Kenshin on the other hand has a mixture of emotions. He doesn't know what love is. Let me repeat so you readers can get it straight: **KAORU WAS NOT IN LOVE WITH KENSHIN IN THE PAST CHAPTERS. **There, now you can read in the right context.

Believe me, you'll know when she falls in love with him.

* * *

**Chapter Five: Bending**

It was night when she finally stopped crying about something that she didn't understand. She shook her head and cleared her mind, trying to find her own feelings. _Her own feelings_. She sighed. Since that night Kenshin tried to strangle her, she did not know what to feel. In her mind, she silently damned the man who had taken her _hostage _in both body and mind.

Yet she felt at ease. She knew that Kenshin was safe and sleeping wherever he was. She tried to put her thoughts together and started meditating on the bed.

'The reason why I can't think straight is because Kenshin's gift is powerful,' she thought to herself. 'All I can think about is what he thinks about. Gee, thank you very much. It's not like I wanted to see the thoughts of an assasin or his memories.' She addressed her own powers, she found that it had its own consciousness embedded deep in her soul. Her gift speaks in various ways… often most eloquent when she is talking to herself. 'So all I'm feeling now is what he feels? Am I not allowed to be my own person anymore?' Her forehead started to ache as a blue aura started to glow around her, diffusing from her skin.

'I know he cares for me,' Kaoru thought silently  
_Do you care for him?  
_'Just a little, he tried to kill me, remember?'  
_He is a simple boy: Kill or protect.  
_'Yes, I can see that.'_  
What he feels, you will feel_.  
'Does he feel what I feel?'  
_It's not part of his gift._  
'Good, because I feel like crap.'_  
Hmmm.  
_'What am I supposed to do?'  
_You don't need to know._

"I hate this," she said out loud. She started coughing as the wind blew open the door. She clutched at her ribs. Kaoru has been feeling poorly since her fight with Kenshin. Often she wakes up with a pain in her ribs.

'You shouldn't have hurt him.'  
_You hit him, not I.  
_'I was angry with him, he thinks he can fight with me whenever he wants to—granted I did want to beat him up, but not break his ribs.'_  
I only gave you what you wanted._  
'Since when did you start doing that…You never give me anything unless you have your own motive.'  
_I do, pain is a good foundation. _Kaoru scowled at the reply.  
'So I should suffer with him?'  
_Exactly._ Kaoru coughed again. She dreaded what would happen the next morning, when Kenshin starts to fight.

'Am I going to fall in love with myself?'

Her gift started laughing at her. _You assume he loves you?  
_'No, but he's close to it. He always looks at me, his eyes burn me.' Kaoru shuddered at the feeling. Being gifted with human consciousness was not a pleasant experience.  
_Love is… a complementary emotion_.  
'Meaning…?'  
_It might be that the feeling becomes mutual._ Kaoru's eyes widened. She scowled and buried herself in the bed further, trying to get away from the voice in her mind.

'I hate this, you better keep your end of the deal.'  
_I will. _And with that, Kaoru felt the presence bonded to her fall to a deep sleep, she followed him shortly.

* * *

Dawn blundered over the horizon, waking up Kenshin from his dreamless sleep. He was more at ease than he was at the compound, thus he stayed in bed for a few more minutes before finally getting up.

His mind was clearer, his actions firmer. _Nothing can interrupt_, he told himself.

Aoshi lifted the tent curtains and beckoned at the king to come out. "We parley with Yukishiro in an hour. Would you like breakfast?"

Kenshin shook his head and went outside. He half-expected to see Kaoru with her walking cane plodding around in the dirt, and he smiled at his folly. Aoshi gave his king another doubtful glance. Kenshin seldom smiled.

Kenshin suddenly groaned in pain. Feeling his grip on consciousness slipping away, he grabbed at Aoshi's sleeve and pulled himself up. Aoshi, surprised, could not even ask what was wrong, but merely shouted "Medic!"

* * *

Kaoru lay on the floor panting. Misao was trying to figure out what was wrong, but Kaoru showed no signs of physical injury. After a while, Kaoru stood up as if nothing happened and started to eat her cold breakfast.

* * *

Kenshin finished his food after he had his bandages rewound. He was to parley with Yukishiro, so he made sure the majority of the white lining on his chest was covered with his gi

Reaching the battle field on foot, he encountered his white-haired nemesis. With only Aoshi by his side, they started to negotiate peace.

If that failed, they'll start to negotiate the rules of battle. If that failed, they'll just start killing each other right then and there.

"I want Carnelia." Enishi started, his quiet calm did nothing for Kenshin's nerves. His blood rushed at the thought of killing him.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Enishi. You know as well as I do that those lands are sworn to the Mitsurugi tribe and its outer territory to the Ryu."

"Let us prepare for war."

"The stakes?"

"The land of Carnelia."

"Defeat will result in exile."

"Medics will be spared."

"No prisoners."

"Agreed."

Each of the men, along with Enishi's general, recited the rules of war. Conveniently customized by the bloodthirsty men, the leaders went back to their respected sides of the battlefield.

Unlike the Carnelians, they had a certain civility when it comes to war.

* * *

Kaoru couldn't sleep that night.

The next morning, Kaoru screamed in pain as a slicing sensation sliced down her chest. Misao tried to hold her down, careful not to touch her skin. Still unaware of what was happening to Kaoru, Misao struggled in hesitation to keep her promise.

_Promise that you will keep me on this bed, no matter what I say or do. _

_I promise. What's wrong, Kaoru?_

_It's better if I don't tell you._

Kaoru tried to sit up, and Misao let her. She examined the blind girl's body as she shivered. Her eyes, expressive as always, showed horror and fear, despite the determination that had settled over the rest of her face. Her mouth twisted angrily and her jaws were clamped shut, trying to keep from shouting. Her eyes, however, reflected things that Misao could only begin to understand.

_The battle was massive. The opposing soldiers wore iron and brass and used long swords to kill. The soldiers behind wore leather and chain mail for better agility. Everywhere, limbs were being thrown up in the air, like flowers in a wedding. Blood pooled at the ankles and the stench was intoxicating… addicting. The stench of death. Looking at the sword. Licked it._

Kaoru vomited on the bed.

* * *

Kenshin's sword was too fast. Everywhere he hit, another soldier was added to the bodies on the red ground. He took on at least ten soldiers at a time, making sure his standard bearer was kept alive. Kenshin looked up and found Aoshi leading the right flank. The final attack was almost ready. Kenshin had baited Yukishiro's soldiers to a trap and was consequently pushing him into a corner.

Suddenly, a dagger buried itself on Kenshin's back. Kenshin growled and swerved around, pushing the man away and hitting him on the cheek with the butt of his sword. When the man fell to the ground, his helmet came off revealing almost smooth skin. It was a boy, no older than … _than Kaoru_.

Kenshin stalked towards the boy on the ground. The boy started to move away, away from those of amber eyes that penetrated through his armor. The boy started to shiver in anticipation of his end, closing his eyes.

"Coward. You should look death in the face!" and Kenshin lunged.

* * *

Kaoru saw two orbs of anger in her mind's eye. She looked through them intently and saw… saw innocence.

"NO!"

* * *

The boy's blue eyes sparkled at him, filled with tears. A voice resounded in his head. His sword didn't pierce flesh. He didn't claim life.

"Victory!" Aoshi's yell echoed in the mountains as the enemy retreated. Kenshin looked at the boy a little longer and stepped back. Kenshin walked away, his mind still ringing with her voice.

_You'll regret it._

Kenshin retreated to his tent early. The celebration was giving him too much of a headache and he had more wounds from this battle than in any he had fought in. _Those were well-trained soldiers_… he thought. Something nagged at him, some unconsciousness trying to wake up, some detail that begged for his attention, but Kenshin was too tired. He fell asleep, bleeding a little, on his bed.

* * *

"Sanosuke Sagara."

"Hai," the man bowed in front of Enishi Yukishiro.

"This is your mission." Yukishiro handed him a slip of paper. "Fulfill this, and you'll finally get what you want." Sanosuke nodded in acknowledgement and was dismissed.

* * *

"They retreated too early." Kenshin was sitting up on his bed. He called a meeting with the elders the moment he woke up.

"But we were fighting the whole day, surely you're not bloodthirsty enough to_ want_ to lengthen this war."

"Battousai is always thirsty."

A flash of the blade was all the young elder needed as a warning. Kenshin hissed again: "_They retreated too early."_

"Send spies."

Aoshi left the meeting.

* * *

"Priestess." The man entered the door and saw the young girl sipping tea. She was clad in a summer yukata, her raven-hair flowed back in waves. She delicately set down her cup and looked up at the man.

"Yes?"

"I've come for you." Sanosuke was a civil man, he didn't want trouble.

"Oh? Perhaps you would want some tea first, you sound parched."

"H—Hai," Sanosuke agreed. It was near noon and he didn't see the maid around so he decided to make his move. This is just a job. Just a job. Just a job. Just a job.

"Sir?" Kaoru tilted her head at the man

"I'm sorry! I was thinking…"

"Oh…" They sat still in silence while sipping their tea.

"I'm to kidnap you. I apologize." Sano put down his teacup and waited for Kaoru's response. She edged a little bit to the side and picked up what looked like a stick. Sano started to stand up, weary of the blow that would surely come. To his surprise, Kaoru stood up and started to wave the stick around, while walking to the door. "You're… You're blind?"

"Yes." She didn't turn her head and walked out of dining room. "You may kidnap me on two conditions." Sanosuke was dazed by what was happening… he didn't even understand what was happening. "The first is that Misao, my maid, will come with us. The second is that you will never touch me. Understood?"

Sano's eyes couldn't have been wider. Misao rounded the corner and saw the man. "Hey, who's this?"

"My kidnapper. Come on Misao, we're going with him. I want to leave now." Kaoru walked towards the gate and left. Misao didn't say a thing. Sano followed the two, dumbfounded.

"Where are we going?"

* * *

Kenshin felt it snap.

_What… what was that?_ The one thing that held him to his sanity in this damned war had fallen to pieces. He knew it started to weaken when he left camp, but back then he ignored its tugging of his mind. He could feel the immediate effects now, the sudden want to kill. _Battousai is always thirsty._ He rushed out of his tent and shouted the call for pursuit, his sword unsheathed and looking for blood. Amber filled his eyes.

"Victory! Attack Carnelia!"


	7. Realizations

**Chapter Six: Realizations**

Kaoru strove to wake up. She fought against her own body, her own consciousness. Deep within her mind, she was buried in the glow of her blue light. She did not wish to leave. Since last month, her own feelings started to filter back to her consciousness. Her loneliness, her desires--she felt Kenshin's presence leave her and in its wake was a larger emptiness that she had never felt before.

At first, it seemed that her gift had taken him in completely, reacting to his emotions. Yet Kaoru was unconvinced. Every night, her own common sense would wake her up to that moment when Kenshin drove his sword through her. She refused to fall into this. 'My gift can't control me in this way,' she would often rationalize. Her feelings were her own, that much she knew. But lately, Kenshin had been very open with her.

Not that he would touch her, but his behavior, his silence, his voice… it all comforted her. She began to open up her ability to him. She felt how he felt. She felt his loneliness, his irritation, his want and constant pining for her. She would shake her head at him with pity because she couldn't return his feelings—even if she wanted to.

The day he left, his gift was so sensitive and so passionate, it affected her greatly. Her actions were the result of his desires.

_You'll regret it, _Kaoru's words were Kenshin's own thoughts in his dreams. His own musings filtered into her consciousness, she knew his innermost person. All she could do was warn him.

_Kenshin tried to keep his temper in check. 'She shouldn't assume what I think, gift or no gift.' "Let go Kaoru," he said as softly as before but more strained. He was surprised when Kaoru dropped his hand and just walked away, counting her steps softly in a sobbing voice._

The reason why Kaoru left him so suddenly that day was because she thought he was hopeless. 'How can he feel one way and act completely different?!' She remembered the feeling. _Walking away while crying_ were his feelings, not hers. One part of her tried to warn him, the other part of her reflected his true self.

Because he had invaded her thoughts in such a way, Kaoru's feelings were pushed aside during her stay with him. Now she faced her own feelings in its enormity. She had tuned herself so well with Kenshin's thoughts, she barely had a mind of her own. Which explains her weakness now. She had utterly fallen for what she swore she would never want. Love.

* * *

Sanosuke curiously watched over the priestess who had fainted earlier. He was antsy and the fact that the maid was just sitting there just made him even more nervous.

"Oy, Misao, isn't it? What do we do now?"

"We wait for her to come back."

"I take it she faints on a regular basis."

"Since the war started."

Sanosuke tried not to touch the girl. He was a man of his word, plus Misao looked like the silent type who could kill in an instant. He didn't want trouble, not now that he was halfway done with his mission. 'My mission…' Sano mused. 'This is just a job. Just a job. Just a job. I will be able to free Yahi—'

Sano's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden movement of the priestess. Kaoru woke up and looked around bewilderedly. She rubbed her eyelids and blinked again and shook her head in disappointment.

"Where am I?" Kaoru grappled at her cane as she started to pick herself up.

"Five miles from camp," answered Misao.

"WHAT?! But how did I get here?"

"You said you wanted to leave?" Sano felt a little sheepish as he scratched his head.

"I did? Who are you?" Kaoru turned towards Sano, tilting her head to show confusion.

"You don't remember?" Misao looked closely at Kaoru, especially at her fingers. Blue light sparked and quickly disappeared.

"Remember what?"

"I guess that was your gift then." Misao took out an apple from somewhere and threw it at Kaoru. She caught it when it hit her stomach. "Good catch, you're getting better."

"It possessed me again?"

"Yeah."

"What are you two loons talking about?" Sano bewildered at the conversation that was taking place.

"Have you touched me?" Kaoru suddenly asked the man.

"No—wait, what?"

"Good. Don't worry about it. Where are we going?"

"I'm to bring you to the Yukishiro camp."

"Did you tell me this before?"

"Ye—yeah. You asked me like an hour ago."

Kaoru held the apple in her hands. She touched its skin to her nose before taking a solemn bite. There must be a reason why it brought her out here. Perhaps it meant for her to follow through with Sanosuke. She sighed, she cannot wait until the curse ends.

After a little rest and some light conversation, Sanosuke realized that they weren't going to tell him anything else. He considered leaving them here, but realized that much was at stake on this mission of his. They all started towards the other side of the mountains, where Enishi Yukishiro eagerly waited.

* * *

Kenshin spat at the man who begged for his mercy. He then kicked his face away and ordered his execution. The siege had started and pretty soon, the proud walls of Carnelia would bow down to his whim. Many had tried to counter the siege, but all of the Carnelian's efforts were in vain. The Mitsurugi-Ryu tribe was an advanced warrior clan. Morale was already low for the Carnelians anyways for they heard that none other but the Battousai himself led the clan. Their worst fears confirmed, they tried to negotiate some sort of treatise. Kenshin, however, would not settle for anything else other than absolute surrender.

Aoshi looked at the man before him. His usual expressionless faced was lined with disgust. He had heard of the legends of old about Battousai. Yet never before has he seen this repulsive creature that he called 'Lord.' His scar was more distinct, and his already red hair was netted with dried blood. His eyes grew lustful for more blood everyday. It was today that Aoshi first disobeyed his order. He had let go of the man that Kenshin had ordered dead.

"Aoshi," Kenshin drew down his bangs as he addressed his second-in-command. "You are dismissed." It was a permanent order.

"Hai." With that, Aoshi left. He knew what to do. Quickly he grabbed his horse and rode back to camp, hoping that the blind priestess would be there. Aoshi was smart after all, he had seen the changes in Kenshin when she was around.

* * *

The three reached the Yukishiro camp. To Sano's horror, however, the camp was on high alert due to the number of spies who recently got caught. The guards were giving them a hard time.

One guard lashed out at Kaoru and had almost made skin contact with her if not for Misao's agility. Between her and Sano, Kaoru would be safe as long as she kept still. She did not. Sano was trying to explain between punches that Enishi himself was waiting for them while Misao watched his back. Neither noticed Kaoru slowly backing away from the fistfights.

Suddenly, another guard attempted to lunge himself at her. Sano turned around and saw what was about to happen. He quickly ran over to her to push her away from the sword, but instead he landed on top of her, his face buried in her neck and hair. "Sano!" Misao tried to pull him away but it was too late. Electricity started to surge through Kaoru again, shocking the man.

Yet Sano started to get up despite his grunts of pain. He pulled her up as well, almost calmly if not for the crackle of fire around them. He lifted her up in his arms and ran through the group of guards. They instantly thinned away as they felt the orb of electricity that emitted from the two. Sano limped and grunted as he ran towards Enishi's palace, Misao following them from behind. It was when Sano had let go of Kaoru when he fainted in Misao's arms… murmuring something about a brother.

* * *

Aoshi quickly rode out of the camp. He had just been informed that the priestess went missing a week ago.

Kenshin could not sleep thus he lashed out at everyone he encountered. Peace had left him completely. He dragged out the siege longer than what was necessary, savoring the slow trickle of men coming out to challenge him. It tickled him to bleed them one by one.

* * *

Kaoru waited patiently in the middle of the room. She was seated on one cushion, facing a man she could almost remember. Misao was quietly nursing Sano's head with a cold towel, urging him to consciousness. At the other side of a room was a door. The door opened noisily, revealing a muscled guard who held a small boy by the scruff of his neck. The guard dropped the boy to the ground and gave him kick in the stomach for good measure. Kaoru regarded the noise and decided that the whimpers by the door were definitely that of a child's. "Don't cry, little one."

"Who are you calling little, you filthy hag."

Kaoru was taken aback but kept quiet. She knew how to pick her fights, she turned her face instead towards the man who was waiting for her attention.

"For a blind woman, you seem confident in yourself." Enishi lazily drawled, sizing up the priestess in front of him.

"Being blind has its advantages. For example, I don't have to deal with deceitful first impressions. There is malice in your voice." She pointed out and took the small cup of tea that was set in front of her.

The man chuckled and stood up to walk towards her. "You are an observant young lady. Did you know that deceit is my gift's expertise?"

But before Kaoru could respond, Enishi had laid a hand on her forehead. He waved away the light of Kaoru's gift and diffused his own white blaze into her mind. Kaoru screamed in pain. The teacup fell to the floor, breaking into pieces.

* * *

Kenshin suddenly jerked his head from what he was doing. He blinked his eyes and saw that he had his sword in his hands, half was smeared with blood and the other half was wiped clean. He licked his lips and vomited at the taste of old blood.

It was one thing to have something "snap" inside his mind. It was another thing for it to disappear altogether. He heard the scream echo again.

Kenshin had been disentangling himself from Kaoru's gift since he left for war. Unbeknownst to him, his own gift was wakened by Kaoru's power. It was her power that held his gift in control. When he left her, her bond on him had weakened. Her gift stretched over the distance but finally had to let go, hurting Kaoru in its recoil. Sano coming along was a stroke of luck, for her gift was ready to create havoc just to have its way. But it saw its opportunity thus it possessed Kaoru to follow Sano. Kenshin felt the sudden lack of control over his bloodlust causing him to go into a frenzy, to attack Carnelia. But now, he realized, that something else was missing. An ache spread over his chest, despite the fact that his ribs had healed weeks ago. His gift, wakened by Kaoru's gift, had lost all contact with Kaoru's life essence. Uncertainty. Confusion. His gift let the violet of his eyes finally come through again. His gift would do anything to have Kaoru's presence again. The skies darkened as it started to rain, washing away the blood from his fiery hair.

* * *

"What are you going to do with her?" Sano asked weakly when he regained consciousness. Enishi regarded both Misao and Sano with cold indifference.

"Did you know what a wonderful fighter this girl is?" Enishi questioned Sano. He laughed at the look that Misao gave him while Sano tried to comprehend the words. Enishi snapped a finger at a guard and ordered "Bring the maid out."

To Misao's surprise, the guard brought out Tsubame.

"Tsubame!" Yahiko ran to her side and helped her up.

"Oh Yahiko," she placed her arms around him and kissed him feverishly, tears making wet streaks on her dirty cheeks.

Misao suddenly understood. Yahiko had the chains of a slave around his ankle. Tied on his shoulder was a red bandana, exactly like Sano's. She looked at Sano closely and realized that he was from the Mitsurugi-Ryu tribe as well. Somehow, Yahiko had been caught, Sano blackmailed, and Tsubame forced.

"I'm sorry Sano, I know I promised I wouldn't. But I just, I hoped that Yahiko would be alright…" Tsubame wavered under the angry glare that Sano gave her.

"_Women_" he spat.

"Don't talk to her like that…" Yahiko walked over to Sano's weak form, he was still cradled in Misao's arms. "I love her, brother."

"She betrayed the clan."

"To save Yahiko!" protested Tsubame.

"I had it under control," Sano hissed back.

"Please spare me from the drama." Enishi drawled again. Despite his words, he enjoyed the pain that he had been causing. Misao looked at Enishi and then risked a look at Kaoru. "Don't think about it weasel. I have her life, in my hands." Enishi opened up his palm to Misao's widening eyes. He held a small orb of blue light. "We will all wait for the Battousai. He will come to claim what he owns.

"And I will have all that he claims."

* * *

Kenshin met with Aoshi past the mountains. Without words, they understood each other perfectly. Kenshin was bloodgifted and Aoshi found Kaoru. Silently, Aoshi thanked the gods who brought back his master to his normal self as they sped towards Yukishiro camp.

"How long has she been gone?"

"Three weeks."

Kenshin kicked savagely at his horse to speed up. It had been three weeks since the Yukishiro retreat. All of his spies were dead, except for the man who had managed to get dismissed from espionage. Kenshin smiled at the irony.

Finally they reached Enishi's palace. Aoshi and Kenshin entered together in broad daylight, looking around for any sign of life. It was only when Enishi's voice resounded in the grand room that Kenshin realized that the two of them had walked into an illusion.

"Dispel your magic, Enishi." Aoshi simply said. A mass of black smoke started to raise up revealing the true form of the grand room. Kenshin's eyes glowed amber. Sanosuke was a childhood friend of his. His hands were handcuffed to the wall, his body lay limp. Misao was struggling, her strength renewed at the sight of Aoshi. On the other side of the wall were Yahiko and Tsubame, silently looking to each other for strength. On Enishi's table was Kaoru, her body arranged as if she were already dead. She held a wilting flower in her hands.

Kenshin sped up towards her, but Enishi held a knife over her throat—he immediately stopped. Aoshi sized up the situation and started walking on Misao's cuffs quietly. Enishi ignored them and addressed Kenshin.

"A duel to the death."

"Stakes?"

"Everything."

"Agreed."

Enishi's ominous laugh filled the room. Kenshin's eyes darted around and realized that the black smoke started to envelope him, blocking his sight from everyone else, even Enishi. The black smoke thickened around him until finally, he was no longer aware of anyone else's presence.

"Enishi, this is hardly a fair duel, you coward."

"You're right, let me prep up a little…" Enishi's voice strained at the last word, and he released a small groan of satisfaction before letting a little smoke waft aside.

Kenshin's enemy walked through the smoke holding his sword in one hand. He gestured to the corner and Kenshin followed with his gaze. There in the corner was a woman, sitting tightly and looking at him with a determined gaze.

"Kaoru!"

"She cannot hear you…" Enishi's voice mysteriously filled Kenshin's head… He looked back at the man in front of him, trying to keep his confusion to himself.

"Let's just get this over with." With that, he lunged towards the man who blocked him with great speed.


	8. The Amber Gift

**Chapter Seven: The Amber Gift**

Kenshin lunged again at the man in front of him. The man's white hair constantly distracted him. It almost looked transparent.

Kenshin kept on attacking. He lounged to the right and to the left, but in every attack, the other would jump back or block. He couldn't quite catch him with his sword. Kenshin stood up straight, confusion clearly written on his face. _Attack me!_

"Giving up so soon…" his voice still resounded in Kenshin's head but Kenshin didn't see the mouth move. He risked a glance at Kaoru and saw that she was as stiff as stone.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She can't see and she can't hear… but she knows, Kenshin…" another ominous chuckle grated at Kenshin's mind and he winced at its mere wickedness. Kenshin gritted his teeth and resumed attacking.

"If you plan to tire me out, it won't work." Kenshin retorted as the man fiercely blocked a lunge that was supposed to trick him. To Kenshin's surprise, Enishi grunted as if in frustration. "Attack me, you coward…"

But the man just kept on blocking, and blocking, and blocking… Kenshin started to lose his patience but he guarded his actions more closely. It might be possible that Enishi was trying to make him do something impulsive. And he did. Kenshin, without thinking, threw his whole weight into one attack that caused him to lose his balance. Yet the white-haired man was able to get away. Kenshin recovered quickly from his mistake, even more confused that this man didn't take the opportunity. When he turned around, he saw why. His enemy hadn't made a clean dodge, Kenshin's sword scraped his arm and the blood flowed freely upon the floor. It sizzled with light and disappeared.

Blood. It was all Kenshin needed. He was a shark that was consumed by its stench, by its taste. Invigorated, amber took hold of him again and he let Battousai fight. Kenshin attacked with great speed and accuracy, each lunge was a precise calculation to take life. The other's blocks became more hurried and less punctual. Kenshin scraped his face, causing a different kind of arousal in Battousai.

Yet Battousai was getting tired of this game. _I think I'll end it now_. Battousai stood still and closed his eyes. Letting his ki shove away the smoke that surrounded him, he made a small sanctuary from Enishi's gift. Amber diffused from his skin as he quietly meditated. He heard a step towards him. And another. When he realized that the man would walk no further towards him, he sighed. Kenshin disappeared.

"Die." Kenshin cleanly shoved his sword within the man's rib cage, through the heart. He had appeared so suddenly in front of the man that he wasn't able to react. Kenshin smirked. The pulsation of the man's heart slowed drastically, sending small vibrations through his sword. Kenshin twisted his sword, savoring the painful scream that he elicited.

It was only when the smoke started to thin when he realized that Enishi was _laughing_. Heartily.

"BRAVO! Oh yes, what a clever trick Battousai. You yourself didn't know where you would appear." Kenshin quickly turned towards the woman………… on the chair. A devious smile appeared on the pale face, it widened and started to laugh in a gruff voice.

Kenshin stopped breathing. He looked at the figure that still hanged on his sword. Instead of white hair, his eyes met the beautiful glint of blue-black.

The woman on the chair wiped off the disguise, Enishi emerged from his mask. "Yes… Originally, I had hoped that she would beat you. Her mind is stronger than she lets on, however, she wouldn't fall for the images I gave her. I tried to make her believe that you were I. Yet she knew all along. I couldn't force her to attack you…"

Kenshin stared wide-eyed at the pale form that still hanged limply. His sword grated against the bone of her ribcage when he painfully tried to take it out. Almost he could feel the wound in his own chest. He couldn't breathe. The clang of his sword echoed in the room as it bounced on the sizzling blood that pooled on the floor. Crackles of electricity tried jumping at him from the liquid of her life, but it quickly extinguished itself.

Kenshin held her shoulders up, he stared at her; his mouth hanged open, unable to say anything. His eyes swirled in amber and in amethyst, unable to fix upon a fitting emotion. Kaoru's eyes were wide and staring, her mouth hanged open, almost in a smile. Kenshin looked down. Through her wound, he can see the remains of her heart…

"Ah well, I suppose that's for Tomoe then… I'll take your land later." Enishi walked away.

The others looked on in horror. They had seen through the illusions and tried to shout at Kenshin, but they couldn't get through the smoke. Aoshi was pale. _Battousai_…

Kenshin started to cry. He fell to his knees bringing Kaoru with him and he cradled her form lovingly in his arms. He rocked back and forth, wading in her blood.

His tears glinted amber and landed in a puff of smoke on her face. Kenshin shut his eyes close as he felt pain take over him again. _No, let me grieve, _he thought. _Let me have her in my arms for a moment longer_, he begged. He tried to suppress the amber light that persisted through his eyes. It dripped steaming down his cheeks.

Kenshin clutched her tightly as he fought with himself.

Revenge. Lost love. Love unreturned. The want to grieve. That want to kill. The want to see her eyes again. The hatred of tears. The hurt of keeping everything in. Kenshin howled in pain, burying his mouth in her neck as he once did a long time ago.

"I love you" he cried angrily, almost grudgingly. As if she had died only to torture him. He opened his eyes and let the glow of amber take over him.

* * *

_Did you know, little girl, that his gift is over life?_

'Yes. The power to take it away_.'_

_Hmmm…._ the voice in her head was distracted.


	9. The Gift of Blood

_Did you know, little girl, that his gift is over life?_

'Yes, the power to take it away.'

_Hmmm_…. the voice in her head was distracted.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: The Gift of Blood**

Tsubame watched the pair who sat in the middle of the grand room. She couldn't move and neither can the others pull away from the sight. Lord Himura's eyes blazed, his voice grated at the walls. Full of pain and lust and love. The earth began to quake. Thunder roared.

The amber light filled the grand room in a glorious golden wash. Its force oppressed the air in Tsubame's lungs, she found that she had trouble breathing. Yahiko grabbed her arm and urged her to leave, but she couldn't leave them. The two beautiful creatures that she had been quietly observing from afar in the past three months were no longer beautiful. A shriveled body, bloodless and pale. A monster in the making, lustful and angry. This was her fault.

Yet Yahiko was insistent and swept her out of the grand room to find refuge somewhere else. Outside the palace, they saw the streak of lightning that halved the abyssal skies. Darker than night, their only source of light was the thunderstorm that threatened to rip the heavens. Tsubame wanted to dash inside the palace again in sheer fright, but when she looked back at the palace, it was no longer recognizable. The proud pillars started to crash, the palace started to implode, trapping her master and his mistress. But just as the roof started to fall in, the palace erupted in a heavy flow of amber shooting straight to the skies, mixing with the defiant lightning. She saw… no … she _experienced_ the most terrifying beauty of their powers.

Kenshin held her in his arms, cradling her lifeless body, as they levitated above the ruins. A stream of blood followed them as if a long trailing piece of cloth. It swirled around the two beings, encompassing them in its crimson hold. A sheen of sapphire and gold washed over the scene, causing Tsubame to shield her eyes from the brightness. When she opened her eyes again, the skies were clear, and, if not for the ruins in front of her, she could have sworn that nothing happened. Tsubame looked around, and then up. She saw in the sky two figures falling.

Aoshi dashed towards the ruins, closely followed by Misao and Sano. He scrambled up and leaped into the air to catch Kenshin. Kenshin's clothes were gone, his hair freely flowing like the spread of skies in sunset. Misao caught Kaoru in midair as well, her hair flowing like midnight tresses in the air around her. Sano took off his shirt and placed it on Kaoru's naked form when Misao landed. Tsubame ran after Aoshi, who was in the process of dressing Kenshin in his own coat. She looked at her master's face and sighed in relief: he was breathing.

"Kaoru's not breathing," Yahiko whispered.

Kaoru's body no longer held any wounds, the gash in her chest was gone, and it seemed that she was even a little flushed. Yet no air filled her lungs and she made not a sound. To their surprise, Kenshin stirred and started to stand up. Aoshi helped him up when he saw Kenshin's eyes, full of determination. Aoshi held him steady as he forlornly walked over to Kaoru, dropping to his knees by her side.

Tears streamed freely after he had looked at her for a long time. It seemed that even with the blazes of hell itself, nothing could bring back the blind priestess.

Unlike the first time, when he dropped his head towards hers, his eyes held no lust. He kissed her.

Her slightly parted lips were warm in his, and a feverish chill went through him when he realized that he was kissing a dead body. But he didn't stop, he caressed her cheeks and willed her to live.

His eyes opened wide when he felt the air in his lungs sucked away—and it wasn't just air that was taken from him. He closed his eyes again and let Kaoru take a drink of his life. When they were finished, he fainted on her chest in a deep sleep.

Kaoru opened her eyes. She blinked. She closed them tight and opened them again. She sighed. She was still blind. She tried to get up but found the warm smell of ginger pressing upon her body. She stroke his hair and contentedly let her eyes close again as she fell in tune to the rhythm of his heart through her skin.

* * *

Kaoru rode with Misao on Kenshin's horse, while Aoshi held Kenshin steady on his. Both were still asleep murmuring sweet nothings as if they were in the same dream. Aoshi looked down at his lord and almost smiled for Kenshin looked as young and as innocent before he was ever taught the ways of the sword.

The group had to take a different route back to camp since the quickest pass was blocked by a landslide caused by the quake. There was only one route out of the mountains and that was through a dry riverbed.

Yet Akai River was no longer dry.

"Is that _blood?_"

The weather had been poor since the war started. It had rained mercilessly on the battlefield, creating a mesh of mud, blood, and entrails. Aoshi winced at the image. The water that washed away the fields ended at the river, and there he was. The group witnessed the mixture of blood between enemies, friends, and beloveds. It swamped the riverbed.

Kaoru suddenly woke up and found the strength to walk. Her fingers crackled blue and she jumped into the thick syrupy water.

Her blood pumped rigorously in her veins as she felt the kindred feeling around her.

'This is where you came from…' Kaoru moaned in satisfaction as the river flushed her with absolute warmth, like that of a lover.

Above the surface, Kenshin gained consciousness and stared down at the river. He knew what had happened and jumped in after the girl. Yet the water was so thick, he didn't know where to start looking—its not like she was in trouble anyways.

_I suppose you could call it that. It's my dwelling. This river is as old as the lands itself.  
_'You have something to tell me.'  
_I love this place._

Kaoru felt her own blood pass through her luminescent skin and mingle with the particles of life that swam around her. A river of blood… it didn't even bother her that it was the blood of many others, of dead people, of lost loved ones. Blood is life. She was determined to know where her blood will lead her.

'Tell me.'  
_There's so much to tell…  
_'I've died twice already. You owe me much.' The voice inside her twisted in discomfort.

Kaoru snorted and laughed—underwater… actually, underblood.

_This river flowed during times of peace. Not with blood, mind you, but with clear water. Sweet water that could run down your throat and give you pleasures unimaginable. Give you strength eternal. It stopped flowing when the wars started. The war between the Mitsurugi and the Ryu and the war of the Carnelians. The spirits saw to it that the wonders of this river would not be used for vile purposes._

_Kaoru, the river flows now because of a prophecy. That prophecy is about you. Your gift is my curse. My redemption is your life._

'Who are you?'

_I am Fate._

The water and the blood around her swirled and cleared. A light effused out from Kaoru's body and in front of her emerged a beautiful woman swathed in blue light. She was a mirror-image of Kaoru. Yet this woman held a certain aura around her, the aura of a goddess. Kaoru shrank away from the divine being that graced her with such magnificence.

_Do not cower from me, it is I who should humble myself to you. I have chosen you and you've met my challenge with more than can be expected._

'You look like me' Kaoru choked.

_Yes, because I was reborn in your body. You are still yourself, and your body is yours. Yet it took its physical form from my mold, which is why you look so stunning yourself._

'Reborn?'

_Your mother, may she rest in peace, made a deal with me. I used her as my vessel so that I could serve my term of punishment._

'What?'

_Do you know what love is, Kaoru?_

Kaoru was taken aback by the question. She stammered. 'I-I don—'

_Of course you do._

'But you told me I could never love anyone, it was part of my pact with you.'

_No, I told you, you cannot __**make**__**love**_ _to anyone, as in 'you must be a virgin during my indefinite time with you.' But you can love someone…_

_You love the assassin. _A plain and simple statement that left Kaoru speechless. _Good. _The goddess's face softened towards Kaoru and she grabbed Kaoru's hands. _Love him, Kaoru, for my sake._

'But—I can't. I can't if you… if you want me to stay as I am.' Kaoru blushed at her words, she didn't recognize herself. She had been so adept with Kenshin's consciousness, she never once considered her own feelings, the desires of her own body.

_You are just like your mother._ Kaoru's eyes snapped up to meet the goddess's playful gaze.

_Kaoru sit down. _Kaoru obeyed. _As a goddess certain rules apply to me, I broke one of them. Now I must find my redemption in the human world. A human is gifted when they are born with fallen spirits who are cursed to punishment. It is not a good life, and often it destroys the human, but it is the only way to control us spirits. _

_I was looking for such a human and met your mother. She was sent away right after her marriage to the King of Carnelia. Poor girl, she did not even have her wedding night. Which suited my purposes, for she needed to be a virgin and a woman of considerable authority for me to act. I told her in a dream that I needed to be reborn. She wouldn't agree. She felt as if she was being robbed of her own womanhood. In other words, she wanted to have love. She didn't just want to get pregnant. _The goddess gave Kaoru a mischievious eye and smiled at her seductively. Kaoru backed away…

'You didn't, my mother—you're both women!'

_No! Heavens no. But as you may well know, my powers do extend to human consciousness…_ And with that, the goddess touched Kaoru's forehead.

Kaoru felt her body pushed down and pressed upon heavily. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at another pair of eyes. Amber eyes. A hand creeped up her kimono, tenderly caressing the side of her thigh. She moaned and threw her head back. A swirl of wet flesh dragged itself down her collarbone, scraping at her skin with teeth. She felt him sucking down at the side of her breast. She opened her eyes and pulled at his red hair, flowing freely and around her, encompassing her body in the glow of crimson. She pulled his face up, and he dragged his body up her already exposed legs. She felt the hardness of his arousal and wedged herself in between his legs.

But before he could go any further, Kaoru felt a finger lifted from her forehead. Everything disappeared, and the goddess was smiling at her.

_I gave her one of my memories. She enjoyed it too. _The goddess smiled mischieviously as she placed her own finger to her forehead. She released a moan, but shook herself from her stupor. _Ah, it's not as good as the real thing._

'But your memory… that was Kenshin!'

_I suppose you can say that, but not really._

'What the--?!'

_That was my sin Kaoru. I broke my own pact to virginity and fell in love with a god. That god was Life._

'WHAT?!'

_I didn't know it before. It's twisted really. I thought the prophecy was meant for my own punishment only. I mean, I am an important goddess, but then so is he. I didn't think the prophetess would be so creative as to put us together in the same prophecy. Quite the fox she is. I didn't know that the assassin would be him, reborn._

The goddess closed her eyes as if in remembrance.

'You're in love with Kenshin?'

_No, I'm in love with the god in him. His gift, Kaoru. That primate of a god that took on his body. Baka…_

_Well actually, I'm the idiot. I should have known it was him. But you were blind this whole time so I didn't know._

'But I saw him, you saw him.. I dont understand'

_The full extent of my consciousness was wakened the first time you died, its part of the prophecy. However, because of my waking, your eyes died, so I could not use them myself._

'But can you not see his image when I think of him?'

_I don't recognize him. I know its him, but there are certain things that keep us from completely reading the minds of humans. Another aspect of control over us gods._

'Does he not recognize **you** then?'

_No. He was stripped of his memory of me, its part of his punishment. It's worse for him._

'What now?'

_Things are about to get worse._

'I know that.'

_Very well, I'll tell you everything. Life and I fell in love. My sin was that I gave myself to him. His sins, however, are far more serious. He aided the war here, trying to make it a better world for the humans. I was sympathetic, but I wasn't one to fiddle with human destiny. He took the life of many, his hands the cause of many tears. It was how we met each other, he was trying to find atonement before his judgment. We were fools then, and we didn't know how we ended up in each other's arms. But because of it he was never able to find forgiveness, since another sin was added to his list. _

_I was on good terms with the prophetess who arranged our punishment. I asked her for one last favor. I asked her that my redemption be at the same time of his. I didn't exactly realize that she would give us the same scenario. _

_I hadn't realize it was him until he breathed life into you. I knew he could kill, but any god has that skill. Only one can give life. I wasn't able to save you myself, Kaoru, because your blood—in which I dwell—had drained out of you. It was through his power that I was restored to your body and you breathed again._

'He drove his sword through me. Twice.'

_Prophecies are like that._

'Damn.'

The goddess looked at her and laughed. Kaoru joined in. Then she stopped, she realized that she was actually looking at the goddess. 'I can see!?' The goddess looked at her sadly.

_No. It's just my power. You will be blind when I give you back._

'Give me back? Oh no! I'm in the river…'

_Hold on. Let me just finish up, then you can leave. About Kenshin. You may love him. You can do anything you want with him. Just don't lose your virginity. And don't worry, I'll be there to shock him if he goes too far. As for the prophecy, leave that to me. I'm just glad this is almost over._

'What pact did you make with my mother? What did you give her in return?' Kaoru needed to ask this question—there was a hint of another emotion in her voice. Another question nagged at her: why did she die?

The goddess looked at her with a gaze that said 'are you sure you want to know?' Kaoru nodded. _She asked for the death of the Kamiya dynasty. Except you, of course. She hated your father and the Carnelian throne._ Silence. The goddess was not yet done however.

_She asked for her life when she saw your eyes. It was my gaze that she saw, my desperation. I didn't anticipate her killing herself, but I supposed she thought it was best. She was right, you know. I don't know how I could have kept you a virgin if you looked like me. Priesthood was a better choice compared to the royal life, which would have been proper had she lived. _The goddess gave her a wan smile. _Kenshin is looking for you, walk towards the warmth and you will surface._

'When will this be over?'

_Soon, I promise. But be prepared, you may not like the end._

'Will I still get my one wish of absolution?'

_Yes, anything you want. My word still stands. Now go, Kenshin is trying to drown himself to bring you back._

Kenshin had been ducking and diving for the last thirty minutes. The others wanted to do the same but they couldn't touch the river, something snapped at them, keeping them at bay. Suddenly the river became as clear as crystal, the blood cleared and the water cleansed.

Misao screamed in surprise. Kenshin surfaced and saw what everyone was looking at.

Two feet away from him, the priestess walked out of the water. Naked in the afternoon sun, the water dripped languorously down her curves, her pale porcelain skin. She emerged calmly out of the water, her gaze dignified, her chin proud, and her back straight. Kenshin swam over and caught up with her, grabbing her wrist. Kaoru turned towards him and blinked. She was still blind.

"Kenshin?"

"Kaoru."

"My clothes please."


	10. Confusion

**Chapter Nine: Confusion**

Aoshi looked in all his saddlebags but couldn't find any spare clothes. He had already given his coat to Kenshin and Sano had given his shirt to Kaoru, but she lost it in the river. Misao couldn't spare anymore clothes. Yahiko had nothing on except for his pants, and Tsubame was in rags.

Kaoru remained at the shore, looking towards the lake, the water barely coming up to cover her chest. Kenshin sat near her, unwilling to take his eyes off her form. Her gaze was blank yet thoughtful, his was muddled and confused. He obviously didn't know what was happening to him.

Sano and Misao were setting up camp, and Yahiko and Tsubame had went to find some food.

Not getting anywhere with his own saddlebags, Aoshi looked in Kenshin's. He uttered some relieved sigh when he pulled out a blue gi stained everywhere with blood. Kaoru faced towards Aoshi with a quirk of an eyebrow. Without a second thought, she stood up from the water and ambled blindly towards Aoshi—who stood as still as a stone. He kept his eyes on the red-head.

Kaoru didn't care that she was naked. She was cold and wanted to be dry. She reasoned that her lack of shame came from her inability to see the eyes that stared at her. She'll be alright as long as she didn't know their reactions.

"Thank you Aoshi…" she placed her wet hands on Aoshi's clothes and tugged at them. She hissed a little when she realized it was Aoshi she was grasping and murmured a sorry. She lifted her hand to what she surmised as his arm and grabbed at it as she was about to lose her balance. Aoshi grunted, ignoring the feel of her chest on his bare arm. She moved her hands out on his outstretched arm and finally touched the gi. Aoshi let go of the cloth while keeping Kaoru's balance intact.

All this time Kenshin stared at the two. Aoshi didn't dare move nor look at the woman in front of him. He kept eye contact with those amber eyes and silently offered a bribe to the gods for safety.

"Kaoru, you shouldn't wear that." Kenshin started, his voice a golden baritone.

"Do you intend to keep me naked then?" She tried to find the sleeves and found that she was better off asking for help. "Aoshi, could you?" Aoshi let his eyes slide heavenward for a moment before closing them, he took the gi from her hands and started to help her in it.

"Kaoru..." it was a growl, a threat.

"What?" she snapped. She freed her arm from the gi and rested her hands on her hips giving Kenshin the most poisonous glare she could muster. Naked and wet, her hair strewn all over her shoulders, the glare she gave was out of place. Kenshin stepped backwards, feeling needles all over him. Kaoru's aura glowed, blinding his eyes with blue sparks. He broke eye contact.

"Much better," she murmured in approval. "Unlike you, at least the others have the decency to avert their eyes. All you do is stare. Aoshi, just give me the thing, you're not helping with eyes closed."

Kenshin looked over at Sano and saw that he truly had his back to the whole scene. Misao was listening quietly as she continued set up camp. And though he knew Aoshi saw her naked in the corner of his eye, Aoshi never really looked at her directly. "But Kaoru.." his voice was strangely weak in his throat and almost unrecognizable. He looked down at the ground.

"I don't mind the blood. If it's yours, then all the better," her confusing reply left Kenshin stunned. She walked off towards where Misao was trying to build a fire after she wrapped the clothing around her. She let her hands go before her, landing on Misao's head. Misao helped her sit down and tugged at Sano so he can finally turn around.

"Turn around" he growled back at Sano as he stomped over to Kaoru. He yanked her up to a standing position and yanked the gi off her. She cried out, but didn't move. Kenshin took off the coat he wore, walked around her, and gently put it on Kaoru, guiding her arms in. For a minute he lost himself and touched his cheek to the back of her neck. He pulled back suddenly and shook his head clear. He marched towards the water again and started to wash his gi, but not before shouldering Aoshi aside, who almost lost his balance because he still had his eyes closed.

Kaoru stood still for a moment before finally sitting down by Misao.

* * *

Kaoru was shivering violently in front of the fire that night. Still weak from everything that had happened, the usual night chill was more than enough to have her sneezing and wheezing through out the night. 

Kenshin was standing alone in the distance, keeping guard and keeping his sanity. Everything was all too confusing. He could not even begin to comprehend what happened between him and Kaoru, much less the new stirrings he felt the past few hours. He looked back at the group.

The sight made him clench his fists, his knuckles stretched white.

Kaoru was curled up in Sano's chest. His arms wrapped around her like a blanket from the cold. His bare skin warmed her left cheek and his stomach cradled both her hands. She had finally stopped coughing, falling asleep. Aoshi and Misao were talking quietly. Tsubame laid in Yahiko's arms, both of them on the ground by the fire, snoring lightly.

Kenshin, in his blue half-stained gi draping down to his knees, stepped out of the darkness and walked towards Sano. He pointed his sword just below his neck.

'This is it. I'm going to have to tell him I betrayed the clan…' Sano thought darkly.

"Does she feel good in your arms?" A small strained smile played on Kenshin's face. His face was contorted between jealousy, curiosity, and some sort of relief. Truly, he couldn't even adopt a proper tone of voice. Sano let out a small surprised grunt, but he quickly closed his mouth again when he saw amber flash in the hitokiri's eyes. Sano shrugged his shoulders and loosened his arms from Kaoru's body. He lifted her up a little, like an offering to a god.

Kenshin gracefully took her body from his, letting his arms make skin contact wherever they can. He let her head rest upon his bare chest and walked into the tent, leaving the others outside.

Being the master, he gets the tent.

They had found more things in Kenshin's saddle bags, including a ragged futon and some blankets. Carefully, Kenshin laid her down on the cloth before slipping in and pulling the blankets over them. Once he was laying down, he took the unconscious Kaoru and draped her body over his. He looked past her shoulder as he slipped his hands and arms into her coat, to feel the warmth of her back. Chest to chest, he let the rhythm of her heart and her body warmth to lull him to sleep. She was his only respite from the restless reality that held him captive since the war started.

Peace encompassed them both for the rest of the night.

* * *

Kaoru woke up to the sound of his breathing. She blinked her eyes under the covers and sighed. She tried to pull away but realized instead that she was firmly entangled with his body. Both of them were half-naked, the only thing covering her was a coat that had slipped down her upper shoulders. She tried again to pull away, but his hold grew firmer, tugging at her to come back down to his warmth. Kenshin groaned almost pleadingly, his eyes ran beneath his lids, indicating he had again slipped into a fitful dream. 

Kaoru touched his forehead and immediately his arms loosened, letting her breathe a little more. Kaoru would have completely disengaged her body from his if not for the cold that suddenly replaced the vacuum that filled his absence. She gasped when she emerged from the covers, swallowing a mouthful of cold air and hurting her already aching throat. She coughed in rasps, her weak body shook in convulsions, as she pulled her coat on again. She felt his eyes open and stare at her, thus she turned her head towards him. He slid his hand up and down her back, warming the skin in question.

Her guard was down. It was so early in the morning, she obviously was not thinking of what she was doing.

The look on her face, he knew, was endearment. A loving smile slowly dawned upon her face, even more brilliant than the shades of dawn that played behind her back through the thin material of the tent. She brought a finger to his cheek, tracing the scar gently. He took her hand in his and kissed it worshipfully, she closed her eyes in response and sighed. She let herself be pulled down on to his body once more. Her lips would have landed on his shivering lips--he was already panting for her kiss, already letting out what shallow breaths he could afford--if not for the grunt emitted by an impatient Aoshi just outside the tent.

The change was instantaneous, Kaoru immediately pulled away, her eyes filled with sudden realization of what was happening. 'No! I can't…'

Kenshin watched the emotions on her face. Rejection and apprehension were the most apparent. He sobbed silently before letting her go.

Freedom was never more painful for Kaoru as she ran outside the tent. She shrugged off her coat and jumped into the river. Again it met her desperation as it tried to calm her panicked state.

_Why do you do that?  
'_I c-can't. Its just too confusing. I have a feeling that it will not go so well.'  
_The end is near and cannot be avoided.  
'_But it doesn't have to be painful does it?'

Silence ensued, her tears fell down.

'It's not fair. I refuse to fall for him.'  
_It is destined.  
_'I'm destined to pain?'  
_Something like that._

Kaoru clenched her fists and shouted in the water. 'How could you let it turn out like this? You said I would be protected!'

_I said you would be protected from death, not pain.  
_'Is that all you can tell me? Isn't there something I could do?'

She could feel the solemnity of her gift, the goddess's thoughts were almost transparent to her.

_You could visit the prophetess._

* * *

Kaoru left no tracks as she galloped towards the depths of the night. She took the consciousness of everyone around her by simply touching them when they came to help her. She most enjoyed electrocuting Kenshin again. Though it was just a spark, Kenshin had "oro-ed" quite loudly when he tried to bring her closer that morning. After that, it was Aoshi who had tried to examine Kenshin. No one knew what had happened so one by one, she brought a finger to the back of their necks. She also messed with their memories a little, just so they won't immediately realize that she had gone off alone.

She had forgotten about a certain rooster-head though, who had been avoiding Kenshin this whole time. Curious , he followed her on Aoshi's horse. Sano grinned at the thought of Aoshi waking up to find his horse missing. Unfortunately, he's going to have to miss the expression (however minimal) of distaste on Aoshi's face when he realizes that he had taken the rest of the supplies.


	11. The Prophetess

_A/N: Reminders: In chapter seven, I said Sano was a childhood friend of Kenshin's but didn't go any further. He had been separated from the clan. In the last chapter, I hinted that there was some tension between Kenshin and Sano but most of that was about Kaoru (or so Kenshin thought)._

**Chapter Ten: The Prophetess**

Kaoru had been riding hard towards the setting sun. Its crimson rays would normally blind any other person, but luckily for her that wasn't a problem. Sano rode in her shadow only a few feet away from her. All this time he wondered whether she had already surmised that someone was following her or that she couldn't hear the second set of hoof beats that echoed her own.

He didn't know where they were headed, and was in fact very much doubtful of Kaoru's ability to get there. After all, she was still blind. To his delicious surprise, she suddenly made a sharp turn towards the eastern mountains that had been bordering their paths. She stopped right at the foot of a cavern and dismounted. Her actions were deliberate and unrecognizable. Never had he seen Kaoru with such purpose in her step, her mood bordering on angry.

Suddenly she turned around with her hands on her hips. "Sano, why are you here?" Blue light surrounded her, warming the air into an oppressive state.

Sano gulped. "Uh—I am—well I was… I—brought the supplies?" He held up a saddle bag filled with berries that Tsubame had collected. He only belatedly remembered that doing that was in vain…holding up berries for her to see when she couldn't see at all. What a rooster head.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow but proceeded to unsaddle her horse.

"Are we going in there?"

"Later"

"Oh."

"Will you light a fire? We have to wait until midnight."

"Sure."

The two sat by the fire in silence, picking at the food that Sano had scrounged from the bags. One by one the stars appeared and the moon shone its wan light, adding to the light blue illumination that surrounded Kaoru. Sano stared.

"Who are you to Kenshin?" Kaoru whispered, her eyes were closed and she was leaning against a rock.

Sano was dumbfounded. He knew the girl was perceptive despite her lack of sight, but he didn't know he had shown nor told of any connection to the red lord. He stammered. "I have—never—I mean I did, but…"

"The two of you seem to know each other pretty well… He never questioned you, yet you always avoid him."

"Ah well, that was because he got jealous of me touching you…"

"Touching me… Wait. You swore never to do so!"

"Which never really made sense to me."

"But aren't you harmed or don't you get…?"

"Oh you mean that tingling needle-like pain that surges through your body, drying up every last drop of blood you have? Yeah, that only happened the first time at the Yukishiro camp…"

"Yet you were still able to walk." Kaoru's eyes widened.

"Yeah. It hurt, but I've had worse."

His statement rendered her speechless…_He's had worse?_ She couldn't decide whether she should be angry at his arrogance or be bewildered by the fact that she was now… touchable?

"Hold on. You still haven't answered my question." Kaoru was intent on getting the full story. Sanosuke gave her a doubtful glance, but shrugged.

"Yahiko was my brother but he was taken sometime before the war started. That day when we left to meet with Enishi, he had fallen while scouting the outer terrains. I was in command of the right flank. I left the army without telling anyone, thinking that it will only take me a couple of days. Yet I was wrong. I had to meet with Enishi to bargain for Yahiko. He gave me a choice. Either give over my command of the army to betray Kenshin in the field or kidnap you. I heard stories about you, and I've seen you in one of the meetings, so I figured you weren't really that important. Silly me, huh? Who would've known Lord Battousai finally found a woman to die for… Anyways, to gain access to the compound I met with Tsubame and she filled me in with the details about you and Misao. I tried to plan some sort of strategy but I'm really not that smart. So I decided to just be straight with you.

"At the Yukishiro camp, I admit I was surprised when your magic attacked me. But I bared it through, though I admit it was probably life-threatening. I think I fainted at some point, but I really don't remember. After that it never happened again."

"Give me your hand." Kaoru ordered. Sano looked at her with a berry half way to his mouth. He shrugged and laid a hand in Kaoru's palm. Nothing happened.

She uttered a small cry. "How?" she almost sobbed. Admittedly, it was horrible never to be able to touch anyone without hurting them since her gift gained full consciousness. Yet she reveled in the fact that she wasn't helpless, that she had some sort of power to punish those that violated her.

As if this fact was her undoing, she cried. Everything became a little bit more hopeless in her eyes.

Sano looked down at the raven-haired girl, who still grasped at his hand. Surprised as he was, he didn't spare a moment to sweep her into his arms to comfort her. Kaoru conceded and laid her head onto his neck, shivering and sobbing while she tried to persuade herself that not everything she does from now on would be in vain…

* * *

Midnight. Sano shook Kaoru up from her stupor and pointed to the moon at its highest in the sky. Kaoru nodded. Slowly she stood up and entered the cavern, relishing the warmth that Sano's torch offered. It seems that though she couldn't see the dark, she can feel it. 

Kaoru didn't know how long it took them to reach the end of the cave. Her only warning was the sudden assault of a strong seductive power that lay waiting for them. She sat on a throne made of ice, the cavern walls made of the same icy mineral. Sano's torch was rendered useless, for the cavern shone with an inner light.

"Took you long enough, little girl."

* * *

Kenshin couldn't quite put his finger on it. Since they entered his clan's tribe, he tried to remember what it was he was forgetting. He looked at his companions. None of them seemed troubled at all, though Aoshi was still mildly pissed that Sano had taken both horses. 

"Why both?" he murmured to himself. Something was amiss… something was missing. _Someone…_

He had finally reached his compound. He looked forlornly at a new garden plot that he couldn't recall being there when he first left. He could have sworn that he hadn't seen those flowers before…

The wind blew towards him, carrying with it a small jasmine flower. Realization hit him hard.

* * *

"Who is this?" the woman beckoned towards Sano with a slight wave of the hand. Sano eyed her wearily, he couldn't seem to keep his eyes off her. 

"Sanosuke Sagara of the Mitsurugi-Ryu tribe."

"And you, how do they call you now?"

"Kaoru Kamiya of Carnelia."

"Ah… I think I like that better than Goddess of Fate."

"You knew?"

"I always know."

"The prophetess…" Kaoru realized.

"Yes…" Her voice was silk. She stood up from her icy throne and flipped her hair to the back of her shoulder. She wore a thin robe, barely concealing her womanhood. Beautiful and icy, her demeanor was enough to ensnare the poor Sanosuke. He didn't trust himself to answer any of her questions, but he did undress her with his eyes and satisfied himself with what he could do with his gaze.

Kaoru shivered, feeling her gift suddenly taking over. Her hair suddenly fell down to her waist and she stood up more erect. The blue in her eyes shone ever brightly. Sano felt the recoil of icy power around him, making way for the goddess's aura. He looked to Kaoru and backed away a couple of steps. Blue light again encompassed her, and her clothes took on a similar shape to that of the prophetess. A thin robe, though more conservative, with off-shoulder sleeves that concealed most of her upper skin.

"_It is good to see you again, High Priestess_."

"And you, my Goddess."

"_Thank you for bringing up my mortal in your Sanctuary. Do they call you any other name?"_

"Megumi"

"_Megumi is a lot easier to say than 'prophetess'"_

"Of course. Now you have questions for me, Kaoru?" Megumi walked around her throne fingering the ancient letters that adorned it.

"_My power. It has diminished. My friend here tells me that I no longer can protect my skin from touch."_

"Your power has evolved, instead of uncontrollable outlashes, it can be summoned when wanted."

"_But how and when?"_

"You were drained out of your body during your second death. The god that brought you back must have awakened something akin to your divinity once again. When the flesh dies, you, the goddess or spirit is set free from the earthly body. When you're physical body was made to live again, much of that divinity remained exposed and available to your consciousness. Your powers are not hidden by her mortality anymore. It is very harmful for your mortal by the way. If your power continues to evolve, and your divinity is awakened in full, her earthly body will not be able to contain it. Be careful… You can summon it just like you would in your divine form."

"_The god… what about him?"_

"Oh he's fully operational now, but give him sometime. He can be quite slow up here, you know." At this Megumi tapped the side of her head and gave Kaoru a smirk.

"_He's not dull,"_ the goddess retorted.

"Defend him until the end, will you? No he isn't. Just dense. All men are like that."

"_I suppose… By the way, your prophecy is wrong. I don't think the god is the 'devil's kin.'"_

"Enishi is the devil's kin, stupid."

"_Oh but, I touch him?"_

"Yes! Are you as dense as the god of life now?"

"_But where does the god fit into all of this?"_

"He's the iron foe!"

"_I am utterly confused."_

Megumi laughed the sound of glass chimes (to Sano's ears). She waved her hand nonchalantly and returned to a stone tablet, picking up a chisel and small hammer. She started to whittle away ancient letters of magic, setting up someone else's punishment. "I shouldn't tell you much anyways. It's against the rules. All you need to know is that you will defeat Yukishiro Enishi."

"_My mortal?"_

"She will die, but not as you would expect. She will choose it."

"_Choose it?!"_

"It is better that way. She will let you go with her one wish of absolution. Honor her."

"_Yes… Well that's all I have for you right now. I suppose I shall be going."_

"My payment, if you please…"

"_Payment?"_

"Yes, payment. Your tab is really high, goddess Kaoru."

"_But I have nothing to give. Since when did you charge me?"_

"Since my rivals started to tromp all over me with the rules of the trade. It's a ridiculous matter, but I need my payment." Megumi stretched out an open hand to Kaoru with mild amusement quirked upon her eyes.

"_Rivals? What rivals?"_

"Let's see. There's the Sea Witch. The Evil Queen from Far Away. Oh and let's not forget that old twit, the Fairy Godmother."

"_But the Fairy Godmother never charged anything!"_

"Untrue, she holds her little princess in her greedy little palm, controlling almost all of her kingdom. What women would give up for a chance at some prince…" Megumi shook a fist at the cavern ceiling, finishing with a deep breath. "Silly girls. So do you have a kingdom to offer me or what?"

"_Uh, I have my hair… and though my eyes don't work I hear they're pretty."_

"Hohohoho, I don't think your mortal would like that. Besides, you're debt is very large. I doubt that any body part could cover it. No I think I'd want a soul, or a whole body."

"_But I—"_

"That settles it then. I get _him_." Megumi pointed lightly at the bewildered Sano. "I've always wanted a helper around here for a long time now. He looks strong enough. Come over here."

Sano who had been silent through this whole conversation felt himself shiver at her demand. "Uhuh," she murmured as she thumped him on the shoulders, feeling the flex of his muscles. She made him turn around. Kaoru couldn't see anything, but heard Sano gasp. Kaoru covered her face in embarrassment. Megumi could have only grasped his rear to solicit a sound such as that. Megumi chuckled. "He'll do."

"_What are you to ask for someone's soul? The devil?" _the goddess replied angrily. She didn't want Sano involved in this.

"Come, come, silly girl. It's not like he doesn't want to give his soul to me." Megumi stared into the depths of his eyes. Quite correct, she was.

"_But he can't pay for what I owe!"_

"Kaoru… I'll be alright." Sano's words were strong, and his gaze never faltered. He was going to enjoy this.

"_But!"_

"You heard the man, goddess. Be on your way. I'd like to test his capabilities in private."

Kaoru blushed fiercely but did not leave. In the silence, she could almost feel the lust that emanated from their figures. She pouted and stood her ground.

"_She bites." _She added as a last petition to Sano.

The feral grin on his face was all too apparent in his answer.

"I like pain."

Kaoru growled in impatience, her only way of battling the fierce embarrassment that built up on her cheeks. _"You're both so undeniably hopeless. Fine! If that's the way you want it, then I'll let it be. But I firmly believe that I am over-paying you, Megumi. So I have one last demand." _

Megumi faced Kaoru with an eyebrow lifted in question.

"_Give the god back his memories," _the goddess fearfully said. She knew this wasn't allowed, but it was worth a try. She could hear Megumi thinking, her mouth should be in a complex twist right about now.

Megumi faced Sano again, as if re-measuring his true worth. Sano thought this was funny and smiled at her. Megumi shook her head, which made Sano pull back a little. But Megumi held him still with one hand, and placed the other on his lower abdomen. Sano moaned as she caressed his stomach, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Without taking her hand off his abdomen, she walked behind him and embraced him from the back, slithering the other hand to her chest to feel his heartbeat. She firmly pressed her chest to his back. "Tell me, Sanosuke Sagara, have you had any other woman before?"

"No," he gasped.

"Good. I like virgins. Goddess, it is done. Now go. I want my privacy and your lover knows you have disappeared."

Kaoru ran, whispering good luck to Sano and his newfound wife. Hopefully, he will take to eternal life easier than most.


	12. Remembering

**Chapter Eleven: Remembering**

Tsubame and Yahiko were riding on the lone horse while the rest walked. Needless to say that Aoshi was supremely irked by the sudden disappearance of the other horse—especially since he couldn't remember whether or not he had tied them down the night before. He, and the rest of them, woke up on the ground completely disoriented and confused. Aoshi, rather than dwelling needlessly on how he had erred, resulted to a more rational action: blame Sanosuke Sagara. He is, after all, the only person who disappeared—that he could remember, that is.

They made it back to camp. A powerful breeze came out to meet them, and in the span of a moment, Kenshin became aware of the flower petals that blew around him. The realization struck him and it was more than he could bear. It felt as if the whole world poured down onto his head, burying him in a fit of emotions, memories, and images that plagued his mind without pause. Down on his knees, he cried out in twisted pain, lasting only a moment.

"Kenshin! Are you alright?" Misao looked down upon the hitokiri, the gold in his eyes undeniable.

"Misao," was all that he could manage in a slightly overwhelmed voice.

Kenshin stood up and looked around him. Everything was suddenly strange and familiar. He saw Aoshi looking at him as if he had lost his mind—which probably wasn't far from the truth. At first he couldn't remember, but as he walked along the garden, he came about a flowerbed that he knew he hasn't seen before.

Peace spread across his face. A small smile played upon his lips as endearment crept into his eyes. _Jasmines. _He picked one up and fingered it lovingly, willing it to be a lock of sable hair. _"Kaoru…"_

"Oh my god! Kaoru! She must be with Sano--" Misao was cut off.

"My lord! You are alive!" Genzai, one of Kenshin's advisors, ran up to the group followed by the other elders and some of the army officers. "We thought you were dead." Kenshin dropped the flower and resumed a blank face as he was escorted to the meeting room.

"Where is Yukishiro?" Kenshin asked with a steely expression.

"He has taken Carnelia!"

"How long have we been gone?"

"I have lost count of time—your Highness. He has had the city for weeks now. Where is Lady Kaoru?" Genzai asked, looking at Aoshi, Misao, Tsubame, and Yahiko. His face dimmed once he realized that Kaoru wasn't with them.

"_Lady_ Kaoru?"

"Sorry your Highness, it was an assumption made by me."

"What business do you have with her?" Kenshin asked lightly, yet the tension of his shoulders betrayed him.

"Only that her presence was missed. She always had a nice smile." Genzai said, matching the lightness of Kenshin's voice.

Kenshin didn't reply. He merely sat down at his usual place at the table and looked at the reports that were before him, skimming papers with alacrity.

"Yahiko, you're in charge of camp detail. Tsubame, could you go find Tae-san and help her restock the supplies for what is left of our army. Genzai debrief the generals please. And Aoshi, I want a full report of Yukishiro's movements when I get back."

"Get back? But my Lord, we are in the middle of a war!" said one of the younger nobles.

"I am well aware of that." Kenshin proceeded to his room, carefully sliding the door closed. Behind him he could only hear Misao's voice in an awed whisper.

"I hope he finds Kaoru…"

Kenshin looked about him. No one had cleaned his room since Kaoru had gone, so the delicate tea set was still placed in the middle of the floor. The sheets smelled slightly of jasmine, though a certain staleness hung about the air. Kenshin walked over to the bed and buried his nose in the blankets…"

_"Kaoru, where are you?"_

* * *

Blind. She was caught in the blizzard. What little clothes she had on was no match to the anger of whatever god she had offended for her meddling ways.

_You know, it's not everyday that a stray goddess gets hints on her prophecy_. The voice in her head pondered.  
'Isn't there some way that we could just merge? I hate hearing a separate voice in my head.'  
_You mean like Kenshin_.  
"Yes!"  
_I try to keep my distance so that you would have your own thoughts, your own self, for when I leave.  
_'But don't I die anyway?' Kaoru murmured bitterly.

The goddess didn't answer, but instead took pity on her.

Kaoru's heart stopped beating and suddenly a blue glow emerged from her frail body, parting the blizzard above her…and beckoning to any wanderer who would happen to be looking for her. Snow began to fall again as a breeze flowed into her mouth to fill her with new breath. Her lungs cringed at the cold and finally contracted, if only to use its muscles for heat.

Kaoru felt warmer, though still sickly. Her body wasn't ready for such a change, but she knew what had happened. With a bolder heart, she rode quickly through the cold, licking her lips as she mouthed his name lovingly. _Kenshin… _

She knew she was nearing camp when she caught a whiff of a strong breeze from the gardens. She heard the neighing of a horse nearing her; a rider mounted on a blood-red steed. She blinked her eyes twice out of habit, only to realize that she would much rather keep them closed, finding no energy keep on. She started to fall and thought _"Just a little bit farther…"_ but she was too weak. The saddle finally gave in. She would have hit the ground had not the rider gave up on the horse to use his godlike speed to catch her. Falling gracefully into his arms, she fainted with his name still lingering on her lips. _Ken…shin_ she whispered to him as he in turn drank her in with his golden eyes. A gaze not unlike to the very first time he laid his eyes on her.

_Sleep, my love. I shall nurse you back to health myself…again._ His eyes crinkled at this thought as he brought her with him to camp, running all the way.

* * *

Kaoru woke up to the feeling of something warm idly sliding down her throat. She swallowed and opened her mouth further, like a birdling blindly waiting for its food. She sighed when she realized that something was firmly pressed upon her lips. Something so familiar…someone from another life. 

Slowly she tilted her head to him. He was softly kissing her, kneading her lips with his in cautious passion. She could feel in him a mixture of obsessed concentration at what he was doing. She knew, without seeing, that his forehead was furrowed, eyelids shut firm, and his hand was clutching tightly at the pillow by her head. She would have normally teased him for being in such a state—but she decided that she would rather kiss him back.

Kenshin dared to let a finger stray across her cheek. She, in turn, surprised him by firmly encircling her arms around his neck, pulling his body closer. Not to be outdone, he smirked and cupped her rear to pull her up to his body. Kaoru could only gasp. She pushed away and turned away in modesty as her arms covered her chest.

"I..Kenshin..we cannot… I mean. I don't know." Her breathing was labored. Painful.

"I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I'll leave now, but please finish your dinner," he tried to say graciously, but his voice cracked at certain moments. Hastily he got up and started to walk away.

"No don't leave!" She sprung up to blindly grab at his arm, but she ended up hugging his waist. Kenshin gulped. Softly, he held her shoulders and pushed her back. He kneeled down to level his eyes with hers, and though she cannot see, she looked at him directly. He engaged her in a soft kiss, while with nimble hands he slid the coat up firmly around her shoulders and let the back of his hand slide down her side. He started to pull away, but Kaoru needed more. She pulled back the guilty hand and pressed it to her left breast. With her other hand, she pulled at his neck to make him lie down next to her.

"Remember?" she murmured sleepily. Kenshin smiled. He slipped his hand into the coat and pressed it firmly above her heart. He closed his eyes.

"Everything." He murmured, as his heart matched hers, falling asleep.

* * *

Aoshi returned and saw that Kenshin's horse was in the stables. 

"Where are they?" He asked Tsubame, who was carrying a tray to the kitchen. It held a half a bowl of cold soup and an uneaten banana.

"In the room, sleeping. Is this your coat, Aoshi-san?" She pulled up the cloth in question. He nodded once.

"Make sure they are not disturbed. The meetings shall be held in my quarters, so just tell Kenshin when he gets curious." He said nonchalantly as he went to the meeting room to escort the elders out of Kenshin's compound.

Tsubame smiled.

* * *

Kenshin looked at the seemingly lifeless divinity by him. So soft was her breathing that he had to really stare at her to see her chest move. Kenshin sighed. He had bundled her up in blankets since she no longer had that tattered coat on. He was debating whether he should reprimand Tsubame for the liberties she was taking when Kaoru opened her unseeing eyes. He watched her blink twice before sighing in surrender. He felt his heart break at the helpless look on her face—he wished for her sight back as well. 

"Good evening, my lady," he whispered softly, caressing her cheek. She turned her head up at him and smiled warmly.

"Good evening, my lord."

"Would you like something to eat?"

"No. I'd much rather take a bath first," she replied solemnly as she placed a hand to his cheek, trying to make out his expression. He smiled for her—hoping that she caught the small smirk with the tip of her finger.

"A bath you shall have."

Kenshin picked her up, blankets and all, and proceeded to the bathouse. Her arms locked around his neck, she laid down her head on his chest and enjoyed the ride. Once there, a mute Tsubame looked up at him from the heater outside and modestly turned her eyes downwards, bowing slightly, in order to hide her smile. Kenshin raised an eyebrow and made a note to talk to her later.

"Dinner will be in your bedroom shortly." She whispered as they passed her, going into the bath.

"Thank you, Tsubame." Kaoru offered.

He put her down and watched the layers of blankets fall of her body shamelessly. She was thinner than before, but no less beautiful. Kaoru smiled and put up her hand to find him; he grasped it and led her to the bath, helping her balance as she lowered herself into the water. He pulled a stool from the side and grabbed the oils that were laid out for them, no doubt by Tsubame. Kenshin sat down and carefully gave her a bath.

Kaoru was completely spent, so she was in a daze for most of it. Kenshin scrubbed her legs, dropping small kisses on her calves and feet. It felt like a blur. The next thing she knew was that Kenshin was talking to her as he finished tying her obi.

"Can you walk to the bedroom?"

"Ye-yes… I think so."

"Good, I'll be there in a minute."

Kaoru found herself locked outside the bathhouse, completely dumbfounded. She frowned and put up her fingers to the door and laid her cheek to it, wanting to go in again. She closed her eyes and listened to Kenshin take his own bath. He tried to focus, but he couldn't help but utter her name as he relieved his newly found memories of her.

Kaoru was in deep thought when he opened the door. She landed neatly on his chest with a muffled exclaimation, yet she made no move to back away. Rather she tilted her head up at him.

She placed her hand on his forehead.

_**They were together on a cloud floating above the calm of the ocean.**_

_Kenshin on top of her, uttering her name as he passionately gave himself to her. She held fistfuls of his hair in her hand as she tried to breathe. She saw Kenshin, right before its finality, place one hand above her heart as he dropped a small kiss on her forehead. She sighed at the sight of their past selves shuddering as they experienced each other for the first time. _

_Laying down next to her, he scooped up her limp body and draped it across his, fitting her head into the crook of his neck and shoulder. Before drifting off to sleep, however, she asked him a question. _

"_Why did you place your hand on my chest? You could have lost your balance." _

"_The heart beats differently when in love. I wanted to know if it's true." _

"_If it beats differently?" _

"_If you loved me…" _

"_Oh." Kaoru felt like pulling away. "What did you discover?" She asked cold and nonchalant._

_Kenshin looked at her fondly and tightened his hold on her. "That my heart was beating too loudly for me to even hear yours." He smiled at her dreamily. Kaoru giggled and grabbed his hand, placing it above her heart once again. _

"_Here," she said. "Try again." _

_Kenshin assumed a look of absolute concentration. "Hmm…" _

"_Well?" _

_Kenshin smiled. He leaned in forward to kiss her and stopped, seconds away from her lips. "I think…" _

"_Yes?" she whispered, only half-aware of the conversation. _

"_My heart is beating too loudly again…" _

"Enough" Kenshin whispered. He pulled her hand away and looked at her reproachfully. "I remember, Kaoru. Please, stop."

"I can't help it. I want it all back," she sobbed into his bare chest.

"I do too. But if we lose ourselves this time, we'll lose it forever."

"Kenshin, please…" so many desires rushed through her body, though very few of them were physical.

"Kaoru…" he picked her up and walked to the bedroom with a determined expresion. He laid her down on the bed. Tucking loose bangs behind her ear, he looked deeply into her eyes, willing her to feel all his emotions despite her blindness. "Kaoru, I know that I haven't been doing this properly, so let me start now." He leaned in further to whisper into her ear. "Goddess of fate, Kaoru Kamiya, will you marry me?"


	13. Consummated Love

**Chapter Twelve: Consummated Love**

Time stopped in the Mitsurugi-Ryu camp. It was as if war became a mere rumor at the sudden pronouncement of the lord's most recent wishes. Himura Kenshin was to be married in a week. The soldiers didn't really have any problems with the wife-to-be in question. It was just that they came out of comfortable exile to war with the Carnelians—not to seek out a queen for the tribe.

Yes. _Queen_.

All this time, Kenshin was merely lord over the tribe, not yet King, for the laws of the clans required of him a lady with whom he can rule sovereign with. She is to be wise and loyal and charismatic. Otherwise, she doesn't deserve such a title. Few of the elders doubted that the framers of the law would have wanted one that was stark blind, but when they saw the eyes of the groom-to-be, their misgivings were soon forgotten.

Kenshin's head was on her lap underneath one of the slowly blooming trees. Winter had quickly passed through the camp with nary a frost to show its bite. A good omen, many said. Kaoru's blank gaze was affixed somewhere far away as she tenderly played with his hair. Kenshin hummed a low baritone, his eyes closed, as he ignored the small impulses that sparked underneath her touch.

It was a peaceful afternoon and all was well with their world. The Yukishiro tribe, the Carnelians, the very lands themselves became something of the past as the two lovers found their selves counting each and every passing hour that would lead to the end of the week when they would finally be wedded. Kaoru smiled at the thought and looked down at the lightly napping man on her lap. He opened his eyes and once again felt a pang of regret at her lack of sight.

"I wish to see your face"

"I wish it too," he forlornly replied.

"Why?" she asked lightly, not truly expecting a serious answer.

"So I would know if I am handsome in your eyes."

"Does that truly matter?"

"I wouldn't want you to wed me for my personality alone," he said with a quirk of the mouth.

Kaoru laughed. It was a pleasant illusion: that the circumstances of their meeting and marriage were not of gore, blood, and divinities that served as split personalities. Many of their conversations were light and cheerful; devoted to finding every nuance of each other's inner person. They had no masks, no protection for their emotions— leaving their selves vulnerable to the other.

She was not a goddess, nor was she a blind priestess. To him, she was his woman.

He was no warring god or lord over assasins. To her, he was her lover.

It was as such that they treated each other, as perfect compliments to a two-piece puzzle; each unfitting and unwhole on its own, yet made perfect by their bond.

Kaoru lifted her hands from his hair to his slight displeasure. Yet warmth flushed through his face as she placed each one to fully cup both of his cheeks.

"Perhaps you will look handsome in my imagination…"

"Mmmm," he moaned, closing his eyes again, surrendering himself to her.

She traced his jaw line with the tips of her fingers, enjoying the feel of his flesh as it struggled to relax under her skin. She smoothed his brow with her forefingers and lingeringly traced over his eyebrows. She lightly fluttered over his eyelids and traced down his nose. Finally, her fingers reached his lips. Ghosting over his already panting mouth, her fingers skipped down to his chin, tickling its underside. Kenshin merely scoffed at the trick.

"Woman…" he warned. Kaoru giggled. She went back to his lips, and with one forefinger, traced its outline into her mind.

"Handsome," she pronounced.

"But you've never even seen my eyes! And I hear my hair is to die for…" he whispered to her in mocking shock, smiling.

"I have and I remember. Your hair was a tacky kind of red and your eyes--" she whispered seriously back.

"Not true!" he cut in a laugh. Kaoru pushed him back down on her lap as he tried to get up.

"I'm not finished yet. Your eyes…" she paused in a thoughtful moment, "your eyes were…" she leaned down and kissed his eyelids.

"My eyes were?" he prompted, whispering once more.

"Beautiful."

Kaoru went back to tracing his lips. Kenshin, thoroughly overwhelmed with her words and her confidence, struggled to think of a way to express to her how much he loved her. But many of his ideas, if not all, included a soft bed and no clothes. Kenshin highly doubted that Kaoru would agree.

For the meantime, he contented himself with laying on her lap, and kissing and nipping at her passing fingers. Finally, he grabbed her hand to fully suckle one of them. Kaoru sighed.

"Kenshin, I want to taste," she half teased, half whimpered.

Letting go of her hand with a smile, Kenshin lightly pulled down her chin so that she would know where to put her lips. It was tricky, her eager kisses landing an inch too high. It wasn't only that she was blind, but it was particularly hard to kiss upside down. But Kenshin held back his laugh, and gently cupped her cheeks with both of his hands to let her have her taste.

Afternoons like these passed at a sweet luxurious pace, burying deeper any sense of obligation to the outside world. It was such a miracle to the elders and Misao that they did not dare to ever disturb the two, except for Tsubame who took upon the duty to remind the couple to eat and sleep in separate rooms (this was one of Kaoru's half-hearted ideas that she would stick to only when prompted by Tsubame.)

Aoshi was busy. He only took a few moments everyday to silently admire the couple from afar before going back to the meeting room to make sure everything was in place.

* * *

Upon icy cavern walls, Megumi slowly traced her fingers on the runes that she herself had 

carved. It was her duty to write pieces of the future as well as history…

_**An eternity ago…**_

'Love is an illusion, the most primitive type of thing. It is he who started this war—do you not see that? I killed him to save you further work. He is not needed. Life and fate and choice and chance and destiny govern humanity overall. Love has nothing to do with any of that. It's merely a side-dish. Something experienced in life, but not a vital part.'

_--From the testimony of the Trickster god, who was exiled from the heavens for the murder of a fellow god._

_Shortly after this first banishment, the lower sprites waged a war against the gods and their tyranny and manipulation of humanity. It was after this war that the gods and lower sprites agreed upon free will for the humans and a treatise on controlling the gods. _

_Yet the heavens were still one god short. The deities were severely affected by this void. Because of the lack of a being that could spread its unique power, the gods and goddesses started to believe the Trickster's words. They looked down at humankind for an answer and saw only the deterioration of a once proud race, now swallowed by its own corruption of what was once the most powerful magic ever designed. Love._

_Unseen by the already blinded deities, the human wars reached no end because of the lack of compassion, corrupting human souls. The wars on earth offered no opportunity for the quest of a proper replacement for the murdered god. It was a vicious cycle, for there was no mortal who could be called upon for this unique godhood._

_Resentment grew between the gods since there was no restraint on the lustful impulses that they began to call love, for the lack of a better word. The very emotion came to be loathed by the high and mighty, thinking it was weak and unsophisticated, human and primitive, bestial and uncouth. Thus the gods and goddesses agreed on treaty after treaty, constraining themselves to even more rules to avoid a future similar to humanity. It came to be that gods and goddesses aren't allowed to love, and many were thankful for it. The rest were merely apathetic. _

_The Trickster god was stripped of his memory, but since his banishment was before the treatise of control over the deities, he maintained eternal life and full power—calling himself a god in human flesh and starting his own tribe as he coveted precious lands and power. Soon, he became seriously involved in a war between the Mitsurugi and the Ryu. _

_The Trickster's victory was guaranteed with his power. Yet one god, a very young one at that, trespassed upon the treaty of humanity's free will. He disguised himself in flesh and blood and assassinated the Yukishiro clan. He was named Battousai._

_He did not know of the Trickster in human flesh—nor of his blind love for his mortal sister._

_A blood-oath was made: vengeance upon the warrior with the cross-mark—given by the woman who was last killed in the assassination. The tribes merely scoffed at the weakened tribe's declaration. In fact, many tried to claim such a deed, for it was a very beautifully executed massacre. The lords and princes marked themselves with such a scar on their left cheeks and soon it became the symbol of royalty of the merged tribe: Mitsurugi-Ryu, whose patron was no other than the god of life, still unknown by the humans to be there one and only alleged Battousai._

_The Yukishiro clan disappeared, only appearing once every generation to see if the true scarred warrior had come back, reincarnated. The Trickster held to the blood-oath he made an eternity ago, forgetting his true purpose on earth: to find penance and regain godhood once again._

"You are troubled, wife." It was a statement made by an amused Sano, lying in bed, who idly watched his naked wife read the funny looking images on the wall. Sated, he quietly smiled at the memory of their strange marriage. Due to the many rules and regulations that the gods have adopted, he first had to seek for blessing before marriage and consummation. He frowned lightly at the 'marriage' they had. He was a little put-off that the gods seem so indifferent to the concept that they held no celebration for his wife's behalf.

"I have been watching this one for too long…"

"Jou-chan?"

"The Trickster." Megumi looked back at Sano, her eyes crinkling at his sight.

"You are amused, wife."

"I have been alone for too long…" she replied lightly.

"Shall we make up for lost time?" Sano leered openly at Megumi.

"We'll soon be disturbed, and I, for one, don't like starting anything I cannot finish."

"You're just going to have to keep up then." His deep predatory voice made Megumi gulp—she tried to keep her gaze free of lust but she failed miserably when Sano shrugged of the blankets to prowl towards her.

"How much time?"

"Two days on earth. A little less than 10 minutes here—" Megumi gasped.

"That should be enough…" he said between kisses.

"For what?!"

"I don't have a name for it. But if you stop talking, _I'll. Show. You."_

* * *

Though the rain forced the ceremony and honored guests inside, Kenshin and Kaoru were happy. All throughout the ceremony, they whispered to each other as the priest droned on and on and on. 

"We are humans, we have free will. Remember the treaty?" Kenshin whispered.

"But that doesn't mean we can just ignore our divinity and the laws again"

"I know, I'm just trying to find a way, some sort of loophole—humanity is hard to bear with but—"

"It is worth it if there is love?" she finished.

"Yes" he agreed, amused.

"Should we really play with fire?"

"I'm merely the moth, love, you're the intoxicating flame here."

"Kenshin, lets be serious"

"We're in the middle of our wedding, we are serious"

"Talking while the ceremony is inappropriate"

"Who cares? They can't hear"

"…_lawfully wedded husband?"_

"I do," Kaoru said out loud. "

"…_you may kiss--"_

Before the priest could finish the statement, Kenshin had swiftly turned to his new wife as she dropped the bouquet so she can grab at his hair. Engaging in a passionate kiss, the two had to be pulled apart so the festivities could begin.

That night in Kenshin's bedroom. Kenshin was slowly taking off his garb while Kaoru watched him blindly on the bed. At this point in time, she could not decide whether she was thankful or resentful of her handicap. She was still undecided and leaning towards abstinence, yet she could half-remember in a distant memory how beautifully sculpted he was.

"What are you thinking?" Kenshin asked as he took her hands and placed it on his chest.

"We both know where this will end," Kaoru panted as her hands ran over his skin with minds of their own. Kenshin sighed at her touch, bending over to nibble on her ear.

"Do we?" he whispered smiling.

"Uhuh…" she incoherently replied.

"I can stop later…" He rationalized as he slowly slid her dress off her shoulders, his skilled hands more aggressive than in one of their previous sessions.

"We're…only…human…" She moaned as Kenshin devoured her lips, all the while pushing her down to the bed. Kaoru placed both hands on his chest to push him away, but her half-hearted attempts were easily seen through. Kenshin smiled and entrapped both hands high above her head with one hand.

His eyes glowed amber as he straddled her hips. Both of them suddenly felt the power emanating from his body, and he relished his dominancy over her.

"We're also gods," he breathed into her panting mouth. She was utterly helpless while his other hand wrecked havoc on her body.

"And even then you didn't stop," Kaoru accused, surprising herself with how coherent that reply seemed to be. Her hands became warm and she could almost see the blue that surfaced from her body.

"It was your fault," the god of life replied, merely trying a joke, but immediately regretting his words as he saw her eyes grow dark.

The goddess pushed him off her. "I can't believe you just said that…" She stood up and started feeling around for her clothes.

"You're right, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"Are you saying you regret it? Because if you do, now's the time to say it!" She donned on her robe and started to fasten it tight.

"Kaoru—"

"All these years and I can't believe you still think that all of it was my fault! I was the only one between the two of us who was trying to stop."

"Please, just—"

"Look, the priest might still be outside, maybe we should just get annulled right now. Both of us know we can't do this."

Kenshin stood up and tried to hold her hand. "Kaoru…" he said pulling her close.

"I can't believe you said that." Kaoru calmly walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

'_How could I have let it get this far?'_

'_We're both fools.'_

'_It's like I didn't learn anything the first time.'_

'_I can't believe I said that.'_

'_Why am I out here in the rain?'_

'_Baka! I should go after her! '_

_'Is that Kenshin? How'd he find me here— No!'_

* * *

"Kaoru?"

Kenshin was soaked wet as he ran through the camp, asking various guards and soldiers if they've seen his wife. He ignored the small jokes made at his expense, about how his woman fled on their wedding night. His mind was focused on finding her, but it was all in vain.

He went back to the compound, thinking that she had returned while he was looking for her. He walked through the gardens, pleading for her to return to him. Finally he reached their favorite tree, under which he sat down in exhaustion.

_Where is she?!_

"HIMURA!"

"Aoshi?" Kenshin looked up.

"Our scouts spotted Enishi riding away from the camp…" Aoshi paused and looked down as he handed Kenshin a blue ribbon.

"Prepare for war. We ride tonight."

Battousai headed for the stables as he wrapped the ribbon around a fist.

"Himura…"

"All may be fair in love and war, Aoshi, but that doesn't mean I have to stand for it. Wake the men up and have them ready in a day."

"But that's—"

"Do it. You're in charge. Attack when you're ready."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going after my wife."


	14. A Prophecy Fulfilled

**Chapter Thirteen: A Prophecy Fulfilled**

"Here we are again, my lady."

"Enishi," Kaoru whispered, "let me go."

"Himura will be here shortly. We shall see what happens."

Kaoru tried to stretch her body out from the bed where she had been unceremoniously dropped. Shivering from the cold, she was somberly muttering at herself for her stupidity and walking around in the rain when Enishi started to towel her hair dry. She blinked her unseeing eyes at him, pausing in her movements to let him finish. Letting go of the towel around her head, he cut the ropes that bound her hands and feet and gave her a robe to change into.

It was only the mere sound of the shoji door closing shut that told Kaoru she was finally alone a moment afterwards.

Enishi brought tea. Kaoru was sitting on the edge of the door listening to the rain when the man placed the tray in between them and sat down.

Kaoru handed him her hand, and Enishi placed a filled cup in it.

"Counting the minutes?" Enishi asked.

"They're turning into hours…"

"What if they turn into days?"

"I won't be of much use to you by then, won't I?"

"It doesn't matter what it means to me. What does it mean to you?"

"He's late."

Enishi chuckled and took the tray and cold tea with him.

* * *

Kenshin clenched his fists when he saw the man pick up his wife from the edge of the shoji door. She was dozing lightly, after having spent the majority of the night waiting as she silently listened to the rain. 

He could only guess at what was keeping the man so long inside her room, it made his blood boil.

Enishi quietly laid her down on her bed. He spared another glance at her and saw that without her ribbon, her hair luxuriously framed her delicate face. A smile played on her lips as a stray breeze flickered a strand of her hair across her face.

His fingers moved deftly across her face, putting the strand of hair back in its place. The smile that played on her mouth disappeared and was replaced by a serene contentment that looked oddly like that of a person he knew once eons ago.

_Tomoe…_

Memories rushed back and the voice of the prophetess filled his ears.

He knew what he had to do.

* * *

"Why do you keep her in your room, Enishi?" 

"You would never forgive me if I gave her to my men."

Battousai glared at him. "I can never forgive you, FOR TAKING HER AWAY IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"We shall call it even, then, _god of life!"_

Black mist surrounded the two as they started to circle each other.

"What took you so long? It's rude to keep a lady waiting." They drew their swords.

"I was waylaid by a certain prophetess."

They clashed swords.

"Did she have anything to say about me?"

"_Everything _she said was about you."

"Then you know what I speak of."

"I can only be thankful that you remember now as well." Kenshin answered sarcastically.

Once again, steel met steel in a powerful dance.

"I have been waiting all my life blindly for nothing!" Enishi lunged and hit scraped Kenshin's shoulder.

"At least you're still alive. You should have died a very long time ago…" Kenshin muttered.

Enishi laughed, "what's wrong Battousai? Getting tired?"

"I want my _wife back!_" Kenshin returned the parry and caught Enishi off-guard, but it wasn't enough to incapacitate him.

"At least _she's _still alive… You never once gave Tomoe a chance…"

"You killed as many humans as I did in those days, and not one of them you gave a chance."

Enishi came at him fast and before Kenshin could dodge, Enishi had lunged the sword through Kenshin's side. The most Kenshin could do was keep it from skewering his heart.

Enishi stood still, letting the feel of his sword get acquainted in Kenshin's body. In a broken voice he whispered, "_she _looks like Tomoe."

Kenshin dropped down on his knees when Enishi drew back his sword, dripping with precious blood. It was then that the door behind them opened.

"_Kenshin?"_

Kenshin coughed blood and it was all that Kaoru needed to learn about the situation before her. Kaoru clumsily walked towards the man on his knees and brought his head to her chest. Gasping for air, he clutched at her waist as she cried, tears mingling in the rain.

Kaoru, her arms still around him, turned around towards the man behind her, his sword pointed at her neck.

"A war is a war, m'lady. This sword-fight is over, but Carnelia is still several blood-baths away."

"Take it and leave us alone…" Kaoru whispered, laying Kenshin's weakening body across her lap.

"No, the land was my father's. It is part of my pact. My people are starv—"

Enishi once again pointed the sword at Kaoru's neck before Kenshin's eyes. Kaoru might not be able to see, but Kenshin saw the feral smile that laced Enishi's features.

"Her life or theirs, Himura."

Enishi grinned wider when Kaoru finally realized what was happening. Her eyes widened in dismay.

"Why? Why do you do all this? What have you to gain!?" Kaoru shouted.

"Simple. His pain. You can't have it all, Battousai. Your life is no fairy tale."

"What do you plan to do about the Carnelians?" Kaoru retorted.

"I shall wallow in their blood, because their blood is on _his_ hands." At this he made a flick of the sword and pointed to the center of a cross-scar.

"But, that doesn't make sense…"

"He made a blood-oath with his god that he will do everything in his power to keep the race of the Carnelians alive when the war is over. He would only take his lands, not innocent lives.

He never considered the possibility that he would lose _to me_. Choosing to let them live _instead of you_, is still in his power."

Kaoru turned towards Kenshin again, horrified. He nodded gravely and tightened his hold around her.

"You can't, Kenshin." She said in panic. "It will add up and you'll never be free from seeking your penance."

"And you haven't reached yours yet. If you die now, you're soul will be lost as well."

"But—"

"Koishii, it will be okay."

Kaoru started to sob. "I'm only one person, Kenshin. Why shoulder the death of hundreds of thousands of people all over again? It is almost over, Kenshin, it's a choice--"

"I will _not _lose you. If your death comes before the goddess finds her answer, you are lost to me even if I find mine."

"But _I _will lose _you._ We'll both lose each other!"

"I can bring them back…" Kenshin whispered. Kaoru stared at him disbelieving.

"Then it's settled," said Enishi sheathing back his sword. He walked away, leaving the newlyweds alone.

In the distance he could hear Enishi's conversation with his generals. "Burn the lands, all of it. Leave none alive."

Kenshin merely laid there on Kaoru's lap, hearing all the innocence mingled in the terror of the screams

Somewhere, a mere three-day-ride away, a river reverts back to blood as the rain poured heavily over the dying flames.

* * *

Kenshin was dying. 

Aoshi had made it in time but the army he brought was completely useless. He looked helplessly down at the land of Carnelia as it burned to ashes. He had brought Kenshin and Kaoru from the Yukishiro camp and away from all danger, atop a cliff that overlooked the lands.

He had tried to save as much as he could from the city. But there were little refugees to save, and only one small girl remained unharmed from what had happened. She sang a small lullaby that a priestess used to sing her in the orphanage.

"_With love impure by timeless sin, a crystal heart forms within the iron foe, the devil's kin is turned by touch of innocent skin."_

Enishi, the devil and Kenshin, his foe, had awoken new legends as magic and power danced in the air—the gods on high were making their sentiments known to humanity on earth with untamed weather. Aoshi was meditating, having been waylaid by a certain prophetess as well. Her words rang clearly in his mind as she tried to explain her uninvited presence in the new but deteriorating camp.

'Love impure is love unwhole. A crystal heart is a heart purified because by being with her, he finds penance. This love is borne in her, and because of her innocence, the devil strived to be better than his foe. The devil gave his foe a choice to save the one he loved instead of killing her just as the foe had killed his. Had his foe chosen the lands and the people, the devil would have let her live anyways, knowing that his foe would be shamed by putting the lands over love. But the foe chose his love out of his own selfishness—that was less of an evil and they both knew it. The devil crowns his foe in shame but leaves them both alive, even when his promise of revenge clearly stated his foe's death. It was almost merciful.'

Three days after the city burnt down in flames, Aoshi heard that Enishi had committed suicide.

* * *

Kenshin's amber eyes bore at Kaoru's sapphire gaze. He was at an impasse. His body had stopped bleeding, but his soul would not allow him to heal. The god in him was dying, his penance unsolved and his time cut short. 

"You told me you could bring it all back?"

"Yes…"

"I don't understand…"

"Priestess, do you remember what a sacrifice is?"

"You told me you never believed…"

"A god lives within me, of course I believe." He chuckled but was stop short by the blood that he coughed out.

"Kenshin…"

"It's just a game, koishii."

"No. It won't be enough, Kenshin." She held desperately onto his hands. She knew what he spoke of but she didn't dare believe his words. A game?_ This _was a game?

As if an answer to her thoughts two beings came up to the tent. The tent flap revealed that the two were hooded in black. One of them walked in and laid a gentle hand upon Kaoru's shoulder.

"Jou-chan…" he said softly

"Sano?" Kaoru asked incredulously feeling the presence of the two. "That means… Megumi?"

"Yes, Kaoru."

"Kenshin, it's time." Sano lifted up his best friend from his cot and guided him out of the tent.

It was almost too convenient that the camp was set up on a cliff overlooking the horizon. Kenshin looked down and paled at the lands he once tried to claim as his own. The two figures let down their hood and Kenshin saw that in between them, they held Kaoru up by the arms. Her face was too painful to look at, she knew what was to happen.

He has killed many, but in this one act he can bring them back by releasing the god.

"What if you haven't done enough? You will end your life a day short, or a week short, knowing full well that the answer maybe in the next few hours? Kenshin, your soul will be lost!" She shouted in vain.

"My future as a god is not my main priority," Kenshin evenly replied as he unsheathed his katana.

"What about _us_? I have lived through both divinity and humanity to finally love you—" she cried, tears falling freely down her face.

"Kaoru, you are stronger than you think—" he replied with a small painful smile.

"Baka! It's not that I can't live without you, it's that I don't want to!"

"My point exactly, koishii. Either way, you will live on. You will find your answer and you will find true happiness in someone who is not as bloodied as me."

"Kenshin you can't do this…"

"I love you." He whispered. Not once did he turn around for he could not bare her tears. How he wished he himself were blind. He placed the tip of his sword moments away from his breast and slowly kneeled down.

Sano's and Megumi's grip on her had been gone ever since Kenshin drew his katana out. She was standing alone and completely free from their grasp…

"I love you, Kaoru." He said in a final voice.

But the sword was no longer in his hands.

Opening his eyes, his wife stood there, tears no longer falling and with a smile that must have been the envy of the heavens.

"Let me join you."

Kenshin remained speechless as she pushed him down on the ground to sit with his legs crossed. She sat on his lap as she took up his hands again and gave his sword back. She leaned comfortably back into his body, savoring how they fit perfectly. She craned her neck, sweetly kissed his cheek, and sighed in satisfaction.

"Kaoru, you can still find penance. You can still live. Please do this for me."

"Do you still not understand? _You_ are _my_ priority. I will willingly live in darkness if I can be with you."

"But—"

"It's only fair, love. I let you kill the masses and you let me die with you. It's called compromising—an essential ingredient in a marriage. Surely you didn't really think you could have everything, right?" She could still tease even in this moment. Kenshin looked down at her face, his gaze softening when he realized how stubborn she was. He dropped a chaste kiss on her unsuspecting lips.

"I love you, Kaoru. Are you sure?"

"Sure of what? That I love you back? Of course." She pulled his hand up so that the tip of the sword rested lightly on her chest.

Kenshin closed his eyes and with all his might…

"I can't… not again." He muttered bitterly, alluding to the other two times he had killed her. Kaoru merely smiled forlornly and gave him another kiss.

"Let me help you." She cupped his hands in hers.

Somewhere in the camp, the voice of the little girl was once again singing the refrain of that lullaby.

"_A blade reflected in ones eyes, the solemn truth masks all the lies, twice tried to darken all the skies, but thrice, it comes with paradise."_

* * *

"_Kenshin Himura, what is your wish of absolution?"_

To bring life back to the land.

An essence left the weakened body and swooped down towards Carnelia. In its wake, people awoke from the ashes.

* * *

"_Kaoru Kamiya, what is your wish of absolution?"_

To see his smile, at least just once.

* * *

Slowly she opened her eyes. She saw that the sword was no longer in her breast. Instead, she was cradled in his lap and was leaning on his chest. Kenshin was leaning back on a sakura tree, his head hanging down.

Weakly, she brought her fingers up to his face. She grimaced at the pain in her breast, but she continued to push away the red bangs that obscured his face from her newly gained eyesight. When she had finally, albeit slowly, tucked his hair behind his ear, she saw that he was looking at her with amber-amethyst eyes.

He smiled when he saw recognition flash in her expression.

She placed a finger on the smooth skin where there was once a cross-shaped scar. He gazed intently at the eyes that were once blank.

"Beautiful," they said in unison causing them both to smile, knowing full well they were on borrowed time.

They both went back to sleep, exhausted with the life that was never theirs to begin with.


	15. The Final Chapter

**The Final Chapter: An Epilogue**

Kenshin quietly walked around his own personal hell. He repressed a shiver every time he heard the silent crushing of snow beneath his feet. Blood seemed to be everywhere, marring the supposed-to-be perfection of the countryside with its crimson hue. It would have been better if it were night, where blood could only invade his sense of smell and not much with his sight, but it was stark morning. In fact, it seemed to be noon all the time. The sun, high and merciless, was a stark contrast to the gloom of death that surrounded him. He had already vomited numerous times, but he never seemed to be out of energy. Always his thoughts were coherent and his muscles restless, making him think as he walked through the desertion of the small village he seemed to be stuck in. He was also stuck in time.

Suddenly, an eclipse happened. His brows furrowed knowing this wasn't part of the script made to punish him for all eternity for all his sins. As it became as dark as twilight, the snow melted, and a summer breeze shimmied its way towards him, bringing fireflies and the smell of cooking fish.

Kenshin walked towards a fire that appeared in the corner of his eye. What he saw almost made him regret all he had done.

Facing his master again and enduring his snide remarks was indeed part of the script of his personal hell.

"Baka deshi."

"Shishou…"

"Sit down, moron, and eat."

"Hai."

Silence engulfed them, and Kenshin welcomed the peaceful crackling of the fire. It had been too long since he heard the sound of warmth and… belongingness? _Is this real? Aren't I a lost soul? Why is he here?_

"Be careful of your thoughts, baka, I can hear them."

Kenshin gulped and resumed his eating the tasty fish. It has been long since he tasted this dish. In fact, an eternity too long.

"So, after taking you up from that worthless life you had on earth, training you to be the god that the counsel needed, and raising you as my own personal slave and make-shift son, this is how you end up, huh?"

Kenshin bowed his head and pouted. "You make it sound so awful, Shishou! At least I stayed until I finished my training this time around."

"Yes, being reincarnated many times seems to teach you something. But does it have to be only one thing at a time? You're such an idiot."

"Mou, Shishou!"

"Don't 'Shishou' me you idiot. You got it right the first time around! Why did you go and ruin it? You could have waited a little longer for consummation and you would have been granted a marriage had you only ASKED!"

"She seduced me…" he whispered meekly, trying to keep from smiling at the mere thought.

"You _wanted _her to seduce you. You were a little more impatient this time than when you were a Rurouni in the Meiji."

Kenshin scratched his head at the mention of his old persona. "Still, she seduced me."

"Why do you blame her? You did half of the seducing."

Kenshin blushed prettily and downed the sake he was offered, sputtering at its strength and coughing. Hiko leaned over and patted him on the back.

"Well at least you've done right things after that. Whenever it comes to that tanuki, you always lose your common sense. Its like the world ends for you, your judgment is always impaired."

"It's the best high, Shishou, you should try it sometime." Kenshin smirked as he eyed down the bottle of Sake in his teacher's hand.

"Harrumph! Impossible teenagers."

Kenshin laughed long and hard. "You can't possibly tell me you've never fallen in love before." Kenshin said as he took the bottle and poured himself a cup.

"I have, but after the regulations, things became complicated, as you may well know."

"Yes, I was afraid of asking for marriage too."

Hiko nodded, knowing full well the repercussions of coupling in the divine realms during those times. He then smiled mischievously at his apprentice.

"Well, there is one more thing that you've done right."

"What's that?"

"Follow me."

* * *

The council was a circle of seated gods and goddesses ready to judge fallen spirits and divinities either to their godhood or punishment. Kenshin was waiting for such a summons in his isolation, he knew that it was the only way to make it official. 

But when he walked into the lighted palace, he was taken aback at the apparent joy that was mingling among the beings.

One god was being judged, and Kenshin had to fight hard to bite down his cry.

"Enishi, once the God of Deceit and Illusions, you are hereby released from your punishment having realized and atoned for your wrongs. The murder and spite of the God of Love was due to your own abhorrence of weakness, yet you have repaid for this three times. Three acts of compassion among your other acts of murder was weighted and found true. And since your actions were before jurisdiction of the Law of the Sprites, you are now named God once again, your conscience clean."

"What acts of compassion are they babbling about!!?" Kenshin asked Hiko heatedly. Hiko gave him a smirk before answering.

"He raised his half-bred sister, Tomoe. He spared you and Kaoru for this love of his sister. And even went so far to give up his wish of absolution in honor of this, killing himself early before you died."

"Wha-What!?" Kenshin whispered back as Enishi took a knee in front of Megumi. Megumi destroyed a stone tablet over his head and the council clapped heartily at the now modest and tamed Enishi. As Enishi stood up, his eyes caught amethyst. He nodded, and Kenshin nodded back in silent gratitude.

"Bring Sanosuke Sagara" drawled a voice that Kenshin could have sworn belong to one of his elders.

"Sanosuke Sagara, you are hereby proclaimed God of Fate and Chance, for the recent events have showed this era that there is no such thing as a definite future. Your marriage to the Goddess of Prophecy have granted you to a right of godhood and so this lot befalls to you. May your marriage be blessed and forever be…_spiced with your temperaments_."

A loud hearty laugh filled the room as Megumi rolled her eyes and muttered a "Shut up, Dad," as she offered her hand for Sano to kiss.

Kenshin couldn't believe his ears. _God of Fate?!_ His heart fell and tears were incumbent upon his face. He was so lost in his loneliness that he did not hear his name. Hiko shoved him to up-front and center.

"Kenshin Himura," said the same voice who pronounced all the other declarations. Although at this point in time. Kenshin bowed his head low, letting his bangs cover his face. "Kenshin Himura." The voice repeated forebodingly.

"You have caused the deaths of hundreds, nay thousands, of humans for your own idealism. You meddled with free will of humanity and violated a well-respected goddess." Kenshin winced at the mention of the last one. "In your human form, you declared war, letting your own idealism agree with the will of your humanity. You've even lost control and bled half a human city to death with your own hands. You allowed the death of said city when given the choice to save it. Therefore, I hereby proclaim you forever exiled from this council."

Kenshin nodded.

"Have you anything to say?"

"Only this: That it doesn't matter, for being parted with Kaoru, may it be here or in hell, is the same." He silently whispered and with that he turned around and walked away.

"Halt," said a familiar voice.

Kenshin stopped and turned around to see that the owner of the voice was none other but … Enishi.

"I have been assured by the council, before this meeting, that my wish will be honored. I claim that promise now." Enishi said as he met Kenshin's glare with matching intensity.

"Wish?" Kenshin spat.

"Yes."

"Very well, Enishi, step down. Kenshin Himura, take a knee."

Kenshin's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he was momentarily stunned immobile, before Hiko shoved him to Megumi's feet.

"Due to the wish of a fellow god in his pact on Earth, as is required by the laws, you are hereby proclaimed again as God of Life, Kenshin Himura. The amount of people you saved when you died by your own hand, God, is not considered enough for the amount you have killed. Unlike Enishi, your crime was well past all the amendments and confirmations of the current law. But you have fulfilled the prophecy and have even learned what you needed to learn from your punishment. The value of your own dominion: the value of life. By sacrificing your own remaining precious moments on Earth, forfeiting all other chances to look for substantial atonement, you have brought to life again the city of Carnelia and turned your back on godhood."

Megumi took a stone tablet and broke it over Kenshin's head.

"Please take your place among the council, once again." Megumi murmured as she brought him up by the shoulder, gesturing him to sit by the council.

Still speechless, he looked up to the man who barred his way, unwilling to do anything but stare in amazement.

"Stricken still, Himura? Let me remind you it's for Tomoe, not for you." Enishi nodded as he offered his hand in truce, which Kenshin took and weakly shook.

"The judgment of gods is finished, this council is adjourned."

* * *

"How can I repay you?" 

Enishi, Kenshin, Hiko, and Sano had taken a walk after the council was dismissed. It was a weird combination, and all could feel the tension and strangeness of the circumstance.

"_Baka deshi!" _Hiko took Kenshin by the neck. "Allow me the pleasure, Yukishiro!"

"Be my guest" chuckled the white-haired man.

"YOU ARE THE GOD OF LIFE! Think! This is Enishi you're talking to, since when did he ever do anything without a price!"

"Eh? I mean uh...that's why I was asking, Shishou!" Retorted Kenshin, utterly confused. _Wasn't Enishi sincere in his wish for me?_

"You're still the dense one, aren't you?" chortled Sano. "I would have thought you've caught up by now."

"Tori-atama, don't sound so high and mighty, you didn't get it either at first," Hiko smirked.

"HEY! Only someone like my wife can call me that!"

"Yes and your wife has a brain. We have that much in common, Tori-atama."

"I'm still confused?" Kenshin was immediately regretful that he called the attention of the two warring men. Sano was red in the face and Hiko was just getting started. He was thankful that Enishi found the delicacy to break the silence in his subtle manner.

"It's like this Himura. I have a dead sister and you're the god of life. Bring her back to me."

"Oh! Well you could have just said so." Kenshin nodded and closed his eyes to relax and call to his power. It felt nice to be his old self again.

After a few quiet and thoughtful moments, Kenshin opened his eyes again and in a low grateful voice. "She will be born in the next few minutes, I trust that you can find her on your own."

"Yes. Consider your debt repaid."

"Thank you." Kenshin again shook hands with his mortal enemy… _Mortal enemy…_ "Wait, Enishi, does this make us friends?"

Enishi guffawed and to Kenshin's dismay, so did Hiko and Sano. "Are you and _Saitoh_ friends?" Enishi returned.

Kenshin grimaced at the name and murmured 'No.'

"Well there you have it!" Enishi turned and jogged away, eager to see once again the peaceful smile of a little girl.

* * *

"Wake up, Kenshin." 

The smell of jasmine filled his living place as he slowly surfaced from sleep.

"Kenshin, council's been called for an appointing."

"Huh? What?"

"An appointing. Get up Kenshin and put this on."

The next thing Kenshin knew was that he was wearing a magnificent robe of white as he attended the most important ceremony in the diving realms. He looked around and noted that the chatter was highly energized and there was a certain anticipation in the air. An almost common desire by all the beings for what was to come was almost too intoxicating to ignore.

"Fellow sovereigns. All of us finally understand why we have not attained balance and peace and prosperity with the other worlds and realms. The most recent prophecy is the work of absolute art!"

Here the man in front brought up the hand of Megumi. Beside her stood a proud Sano.

"Goddess of Prophecy, you have done your duty and more. You have saved us from ourselves."

Catcalls went among the crowd to honor the surprisingly blushing Ice Queen. The man who declared waited for silence once again, yet the anticipation, Kenshin noted, was still deafening.

"We have been one god short all this time. And it took the sudden disappearance of power over fate to realize this. Chaos and disorder ensued is momentous proportions, as you may all well know." The man nodded to the agreement of the crowd. " Fortunately, Sagara here has taken that fully under control now. Though his chance at gambling still remains as something to be desired." The court laughed again and Megumi patted Sano's cheek heartily.

"Get on with it!" Shouted an excited Hiko, totally shocking Kenshin who was at his side, fully able to experience the full blast of his well-heard voice.

"Patience Master Seijirou, we know your woman awaits in your bed. Do recall your dignity."

Hiko silenced, his cheeks burned as red as his apprentice's hair—who was at the moment completely on the floor, half-stoned over at the teasing of his teacher.

It was all an appointing should be. Full of joy and anticipation of a new power and peace to fill the room. Kenshin thought he never saw such happier beings around him… _If only…_

"And so our waiting has ended at last! Fellow brothers and sisters, meet our new goddess!"

The doors behind the man who declared opened silently and out came a blue-clad woman. Her kimono was as blue as a summer-night sky, speckled with petals and butterflies that moved on their own accord. It was as if her kimono was bewitched, for as it rippled along her body, the butterflies fluttered and petals swished in her graceful motions. Her hair was put in a simple ponytail, allowing all who had eyes to be graced by her beautiful face, fair and that of a goddess indeed. She stepped out onto the platform and smiled willingly at the crowd before her.

Kenshin almost didn't hear the words that were said of her, for she immediately singled out his amber eyes in the crowd and stared at him like there was no tomorrow.

"…last known as Goddess of Fate she allowed her body to be taken in the name of love, which we had once believed as false. Yet she proved her claim in her humanity by leaving her godhood in the hands of a murderer, the one she loved, and proved us all wrong. In her pain and suffering, we found _our _answer to the troubles that have ensued among the mortals and sprites and ourselves. We are all indebted to her. Thus do we all agree that she is to be appointed this power?"

All raised their hand in salutation and confirmation.

"Very well. Meet Kaoru Kamiya, her soul founded as Goddess of Love."

A tremendous cry went up from the crowd to hail the young woman as she smiled even wider.

"CAN WE GET MARRIED NOW!?" Hiko cried, having recovered from his embarrassment and deciding he didn't give a damn if he got teased anymore.

"Yes Master Hiko, do get married and stop your sneaking around with shunga and secret love letters!" said the man in mock exasperation. Many laughed as Hiko realized that his determination wasn't as strong in this aspect, his cheeks maddeningly reddening.

"I wouldn't mind marrying her!" Cried a joker from the crowd, pointing at Kaoru. Laughs hailing the goddess erupted once again. Murmurs of agreement however, was in the air.

"Kaoru Kamiya, marry me!" cried an elated god at the prospect. It didn't matter that he was the God of Wine and Drunkeness, for the joke was carried all around by all the other young men until Megumi stood up to calm the hormonal gods.

"Hey Megumi, why don't you take a second husband?"

Needless to say, that man never spoke again for the remainder of the afternoon.

"I just want to inform all of you that our new goddess here is already spoken for."

Silence ensued and the crowd parted, giving _him_ a clear view of Kaoru. Megumi continued to speak.

"What a god does in human form is taken with him in the afterlife, all his atonement and memories is a part of his identity. That includes relationships. Kenshin Himura, come here and claim your wife in your mortal life and mark her as yours in this life as well."

Kenshin didn't move.

"Baka deshi, I think Megumi is implying that you finally consummate your marriage. You know. Sex?"

Godlike speed was never a more fitting word.

Kenshin, completely overwhelmed, devoured Kaoru's lips in front for all to see (_for a very good reason!)_ not giving Kaoru a single moment to feel alone any longer. Soon enough, the tables turned and Kaoru sat on Kenshin's stomach and was going to do it there had Megumi not pried her off the inebriated god.

"Goddess of Love indeed!" Catcalls again went around as Kenshin swept Kaoru off her feet and brought her out of the room.

They had their honeymoon on an isolated cloud over the sea and lived along the banks of a clear crystal river that was as pure as love itself.

—The End—

* * *

To all my loyal readers out there. You know who you are. _I_ want to know who you are! Give me a review! 


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